The stranger
by xMyosotisx
Summary: "What is Naruto doing here? No, Why am I here? Inside your world and not my own?" Only a moment ago I was still fighting by his side and suddenly, I got transported into Naruto's dimension. Every single favorite character of mine has become real and standing right before my eyes. But none of this matter anymore because right now. I only want to go home. To where I truly belong.
1. Chapter 1

This story is a little cross over with Ninja Gaiden. But the amount of their appearances is not enough to put it into the crossover section so I decided to release it into Naruto fanfictions instead.

Warning: English is not my main language. None of Naruto and Ninja's Gaiden characters belong to me.

Reviews are appreciated.

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

"We're almost there." The masked man in black suit informed about our arrival. One hand holding me tight and the other hand carrying a sword, slashing everything with malice intentions that getting in his way.

"...?" I stared at the mysterious man with a bunch of questions floating inside my head. Why are we in such a hurry? Why are these people and strange looking machines chasing after us? Who are they and why are you fighting them?

However seeing the masked man's started to wear himself out after going through everything to protect me. I decided not to ask and kept quiet for the rest of the trip.

This man had claimed to be Hayabusha Ryu when we first met back inside the "White Room". Promising that he would never harm me and instead, he would be taking me to the place called Hayabusha village where I could stay out of harm's way. And before I knew what was really happening, I had already accepted his offer, whether willing or not, and now we're here.

After forever dashing through the misty forest, he released me once we reached to a Japanese village. Small, harmless and peaceful, were the first impressions I had the moment I stepped my feet into the area.

Unfamiliar faces, voices started to surround me and quickly, I cowered behind Ryu's back to avoid the unnecessary attentions.

"This place shall be your home from now on. You will be safe here." He said, leading me into the furthest houses inside the village.

While making our way through the small path, except for several normal looking villagers, I noticed there were more people who dressed similar to this man guarding all over the place. There were also some of them seemed to be practicing with various type of weapons at the yard nearby.

Soon we reached the house's gate and I saw a young woman standing by it. She's wearing a pair of red trousers and long sleeves white jacket, her hair was tied into a high ponytail and carrying a broom in her hand. "Welcome home, Ryu-sama."

Therefore she greeted him and stared at me curiously.

"Momiji." He greeted her and the woman sighed in relief when finding no serious injuries on his body. "I'm glad you're alright. Ryu-sama."

"And this girl must be..."

"Yes, it's her." Ryu nodded and Momiji squat down to have a closer look at the mysterious girl in white hospital gown. Round face, small noses, straight orange hair that is bright like the sun down to her neck. Topaz colored pair of eyes and pale skin. She seemed to be around 8 years old but quite thin for a kid at her age.

"What's your name?" Momiji asked her. But she hid herself further behind Ryu's legs and looked away.

'Her name is Nina." Ryu's reply instantly earned a surprise, as much as confused, look from the girl and Momiji nodded. "I see."

"Nice to meet you, Nina. My name is Momiji." The Miko extended her hand to Nina, smiling gently. "From today, I will be the one to take care of you. so let's be friends, okay?"

Nina seemed to be wary about her at first but the girl soon gave in and nodded, accepting Momiji's hand. Much to her delight. Since the sun almost set, Momiji led Nina into the house to give her a bath and prepared dinner for her.

 **Inside the bath house.**

"Can you speak?" Because Nina had not once opened her mouth to speak ever since they met, Momoji asked out of curiosity while washing the girl's hair. It's so messy as if they hadn't been washed for ages.

Nina hesitated for a moment before answering in Japanese, but not so fluently. "Y...e...s..?"

 _Alright, now I know exactly what we should work on first._ Having made decision in her mind, Momiji fastened up and they soon got out of the bathhouse to grab some food before starting Nina's first lesson. Spelling and Writing.

 **Three months then quickly passed by.**

Spending my time here, Momiji had taught me almost everything that I needed to survive. Language, dressing, cooking, manner, shinobi's history and their lifestyles,...

In order to defend myself against the enemies that lurking around the area, Ryu suggested that I should become a shinobi like any other kids who were growing up in the village.

Soon I was introduced to Omitsu, the head ninja who is in charge of the Hayabusa village's children and used to be Ryu's teacher. And here at the training ground, she taught us basic shinobi skills. As much as her archery skills.

"It's been two weeks and she still can't throw a shuriken?" From afar, one of the boys in the group commented at Nina's countless attempts to throw a shuriken into the aiming board at the big tree up ahead.

"Neither high jump nor dash." A girl stood next to him added. Recalling to their speed training session, where Nina couldn't keep up with her teammates due to not be able to keep herself balanced above the wooden boxes in order to reach to the top. "It's already ridiculous enough just by looking at her stance."

"It's hopeless no matter how much I see it." Another boy came up and shook his head. "Nina's too weak and clumsy comparing to any of us here. I doubt she would suit to be a shinobi at all."

Exactly as he said, I was born without a proper talent to build a basic shinobi. At result, my progress was much slower than the others, about double or even triple the amounts, but that didn't cause Ryu to give up on me.

So he decided that we would train together whenever I was free from Omitsu's lessons and I ended up almost exhausting myself to death from working non-stop, whether it's days or nights, rains or storms. At the end of the day, Momiji would cook food for me and tended my injuries. Also constantly reminded Ryu to take things easy since I was still a kid.

To his defense, Ryu stated that all of this hard works was to enhance my stamina and durability, which I was lacking of the most at the moment in order to become a proper Shinobi.

A couple more months passed and one day, Ayane and Kasumi showed up at our place. As far as I knew they were sisters from different fathers and were once shinobi from another clan called Mugen Tenshin. Now they were being hunted down by their own people for some complicated reasons.

My first impression about Ayane that she was a teenage girl with short purple hair and striking red eyes, slender, petite and athletic. Giving off quite an odd, cold aura around her and didn't talk much unless it's required. Suffering from an obsession with violet color and butterflies.

She preferred revealing costume such as a dark top with a butterfly ornament on her left breast, a striped mini skirt in purple, some high-heeled sandals and gloves, with a pinkish obi tied on her back which resembling to butterfly's wings.

On the other hand Kasumi was a slender, physically-fit and petite young woman with long chestnut brunette hair and amber eyes. Kind, caring and compassionate, acting like a loving older sister even though we were only first met.

Similar to her half-sister who had her own unique style about purple butterflies. Sakura flower and blue color were the things that held a special place in Kasumi's heart.

Her attire consisted of blue, side-tie dress with long pull-on sleeves, white trim. Having her name stitched in yellow on the back, and a yellow-colored bird pattern on the skirt, complete with stockings, knee-high boots and arm-guards.

Therefore these two came to our village quite often to discuss important business with Ryu, Or just simply to visit us and had some tea at our table. And while they're here, Ayane would help me with my training and Kasumi would shower me with clothes that she bought during her traveling.

"So what do you think." Watching Sakura flowers falling from their tree in the middle of our yard, Momiji asked me. "About living here, how is it?"

"Well... except for the troublesome extreme training that I had." Eyes weren't leaving the Sakura tree, I spoke. "This place isn't so bad. Ryu nii-sama and you are very kind. Everyone here is nice to me and I learnt a lot from them."

"Plus your food is delicious." Therefore my comment about Momiji's cooking instantly earned a smile from her. "Really?!"

"Oh right, I just remembered that I had made some mochi this morning. Do you want to get them with me?"

Receiving Momiji's offer to collect my favorite treats in the kitchen. I quickly accepted. "Of course. I will help making some tea too."

 **4 years later.**

"Happy 12th birthday!" Everyone cheers the moment I, in a casual shinobi-in-training outfit, step into our living room after receiving a long battle lesson from Ryu. And before I can even react, Kasumi has rushed over to my side to give me a hug. "I haven't seen you only for a while and you've reached this tall!"

After four years Nina has reached to 150cm, almost about the same height as Kasumi, who is 158 cm. Still keeping her hair short and loose around her neck, wearing no accessories or whatsoever. Overall she looks pretty much the same from before, only taller. It's only the inside that have drastically changed.

"Kasumi nee-sama, Ayane nee-sama!?" Surprised by their sudden visit, I look around the place and notice it's covered with colorful decorations. "Momiji nee-sama, what's going on?"

"Don't tell me you forget your own birthday already?" Momiji huffs and helps me to get out of Kasumi's strong grip. "Let go Kasumi. Can't you see you're killing her?"

 _My birthday? Oh right, I was too busy with all the training and completely forgot about it._

"Kids sure grow up fast, huh?" Ayane comments about my figure and Kasumi giggles beside her. "I know right?"

Finally I'm able to reach to the table in the middle of the room and there, sitting before me is a strawberry cake with 12 burning candles sitting on top. And a "Happy Birthday to Nina" written in chocolate cream on the surface of the cake.

"Here, I'm sure you will love it." Not waiting for Ryu to arrive, Kasumi hands me a gift box and I open it up to find a sleeveless Kimono lying neatly inside. Orange color with black trim, the dress is down to my knees plus a net t-shirt inside and even stockings, knee-high boots and arm-guards.

"I know that you have gotten lots of clothes already but I'm sure this is the first time you receive this kind of suit." Therefore she explains, caressing my hair. "Now that you've grown and starting to become such a fine Kunoichi. I say we should get prepared, right?"

"Kasumi nee-sama..." I hug the attire tightly to my chest, completely moved by her caring words. Then Ayane puts something onto my head and it turns out to be a orange with black pattern butterfly hair-clip. "This is for you."

"It's so pretty! Thank you so much. Ayane nee-sama!" Now that I realize something, both of these items are orange themed. I wonder if they go and pick my gift together or just a coincidence?

"Looks good on her, right?" The two sisters looks at each other and smile. "Uh huh."

"Don't forget about me!" Momiji grins and hands me a mountain of books. "Tada!"

"Naruto?" I pronounce the title and she nods, excitedly. "That's right. They are quite entertaining to read!"

"Wow you collected everything? Not even a single volume missing." Awed by the sights of the books neatly placed in front of me, I ask. "So... Has the story completed yet?"

"For the first and second part, yes." She points at the spiky yellow haired boy at the cover page and explains. "But for the next part... Well I'm not going to spoil it until you finish reading these!"

 _72 books and still on release? That's quite a lot._ I pick up the first volume and take a quick scan onto several pages. _Manga about the hidden shinobi world? Interesting. Perhaps I should give it a try._

"Sorry I'm late." A familiar voice cut all of my thoughts in instant and I turn around. Seeing Ryu is standing by the living room's door and seems to be carrying something in his hands as well.

"Ryu nii-sama." I approach him and he gives me the object in his hand. A pair of daggers which hilts is covered by small red ropes that act as an decoration.

"I have them made especially just for you." He explains as I admire the beautifully crafted weapons in my hands. Not too heavy or too light, length around my arm and completely fit with my movements.

"I... I don't know what to say." Completely lost for words by the incredible gift, I begin muttering in incomplete sentence and Ryu pats my head, smiling to me. "Never stop trying, okay? I believe in you."

"Okay!" Holding back the tears forming in my eyes, I nod excitedly.

"Alright, let's start cutting the cake!" Momiji suggests to start the party with a knife in her hand and Kasumi immediately approves the idea. "I'll handle the grilled chicken."

"I'll help." I put the dagger around my waist and start spreading plates, cups onto the table. While Ryu is, well, just sit down at his own seat and enjoys the food we provide quietly.

The night goes by peacefully for us just like that. Also...

I was completely drawn into the books that Momiji gave me for my birthday that ended up reading them nonstop. To the point be able to finish everything within one week, without skipping any practices, of course. But that didn't mean the end of it as Momiji started showering me in DVDs with hundreds of episodes. Including the original series, Shippuden and OVA,...

Somehow I still managed to watch them all within a short amount of time and not slowing down my training progresses, miraculously...

 **In one afternoon.**

Cannot wait for the next part of the story to be out fully to read. I sneak into Momiji's room to take a peek into some of it since I'm sure she already has them collected in the beginning of their release.

A traditional Japanese room, isn't too large but cozy. Its structure is similar to any other rooms in the house, my included. A couple of Miko attires hanging on the wall, a small wooden desk at the corner and a high neck vase contains fresh flowers from our garden. Passing the shelves, books by books and soon I spot the familiar name on the cover page. "Yes! Found it!"

 _There are only four volumes for now but I can live with that._ Therefore I take Boruto first volume off the shelf and starts reading one after another. And before I know it, the sun has already set. Quickly I put the books back to where they belong and start getting out of the room.

Suddenly I hear a loud crash by the hall along with Momiji's horrid scream. "Nina! Hurry and get out of here!"

"Momiji nee-sama!" I followed the direction of her voice and finally reach to our yard. There I spot multiple unfamiliar men in strange suit, carrying some kind of mechanic weapon in their hands that I've never seen before and surrounding Momiji into a circle. _Guns? No, they are far different from it. Just what exactly are they and how can I counter them?!_

Notice my presence, one man steps out of his group and starts approaching me. "We've finally found you. No. 9."


	2. Chapter 2

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

"No. 9...?"

My heart skipped a beat the moment he mentions the old name, which I have left fallen into the void for a long time ago, together with the memories from _that_ place.

"W-Who are you people?! What do you want from us!"

The blonde haired man wearing black sunglasses doesn't answer and keeps coming closer to my spot. Quickly, I reach to the daggers hanging around my waist and prepare for any ambush. _There must be at least 20 of these guys here, and I'm quite positive that there are still more hiding somewhere nearby._

Of course they would wait for Ryu to leave the village to initiate the attack. Without him, we're already at our big disadvantage. And now these people are completely outnumbered us, with high-tech weapons no less.

Despite Momiji's callings for me to escape, I charge forward with the daggers in my hands. Hoping to at least knock down some of them and free her so that we can leave this place together.

Only a few more steps away from the group of enemies. However, that man from earlier has aimed his weapon and shoot an giant orb, which core sparks out some kind of deep blue-colored electric energy, at me to stop my attack.

Luckily I'm fast enough to dodge it in time but that thing, it follows me wherever I go. Figured that one isn't enough to hold me down, he begins sending more of them.

 _What the hell?!_ Not only they're not slowing down but also getting faster in seconds. And what is coming has to come, those energy balls catch up to my pace and I have no choice but to endure the impact. From all of them at once.

"Nina!" Momiji watches the girl gets electrocuted and collapses onto the ground in horror. She tries to get out of the enemy's grip to save her but these guys refuse to move even in an inch.

"Don't worry, we're not here to kill her." The man ensures the panic miko and picks the unconscious Nina up onto his shoulder. After a short moment confirming to someone through the phone, he starts walking toward to the helicopter's stair, which is now approaching closer to their spot from the sky.

After successfully getting into the helicopter, he flies away. Leaving his subordinates behind to deal with Momiji's outrage.

..

..

..

Slowly gaining back my consciousness due to the sound of crashing metals going around me, yet doesn't have enough strength to get up by myself. I continue laying on the spot and pretend to be asleep. Soon the noises stops and I start hearing people's voices, seem to be talking to each other. Unfortunately, they're too far away from my spot so the best I can hear are some broken words or sentences here and there.

"...My greatest creation!"

Whose voice is that? Why does it sound so familiar...

"Where is she?! What did you do to her?!"

 _Wait a minute! That's Ryu's voice!_ I jolt up from my day-dreaming and realize I am now locked inside something that looks like a small, transparent room. Floating in the middle of the air inside a huge high-tech facility.

Apart from all of these machines and large tubes full of colorful liquid that I've seen before from the past, I don't recognize anything more about this place. Perhaps it's either my mind was fuzzy back then or they had moved into another location.

On the glass floor I see a pool of blood and scattering around are multiple parts belong to something that is much bigger than a human being. Kneeling in the middle of the room is an injured Ryu with a sword in his hand, and standing in front of him is an average looking Japanese man, seems to be in his 40s. Wearing lab coat and grey pants. Short brown hair and eyes, Having glasses and a golden ring on his left hand, at the thumb.

For some reasons his voice is the only thing I can recall of. Not his face or anything else, I wonder why.

Therefore the man starts mocking and pointing another strange looking gun at him. "Years ago you destroyed my lab and took her away from me. I only came to retrieve what was originally mine."

 _Destroyed his lab? So that how it was._ No wonder we were being chased by those weird looking bots back at the forest. And I can understand the part about him claiming me to be his but. _Why did Ryu do all of these things? For what cause?_

 _More importantly, why didn't Ryu tell me anything about it? Just what was he trying to hide?_

Still, this is not the time to think about the past. First, I have to help him escape then we can start talking about it later. Once we get home safely.

With that thought, I start looking for an exit by searching around the room. There is no door, no window, no strange device lying around, nothing looks suspicious but a small bed and an empty desk. There are some small holes at the top for air supply but that's it.

What the hell?! It's as if these walls were made only after they put me inside or something.

 _Hold on, perhaps I can reach to Ryu from here._ Fortunately enough, this is not a soundproof room. In order to alert Ryu, I start banging my hands against the transparent wall and calling out for him. "Ryu nii-sama. I'm up here!"

However he still doesn't aware of my presence and I decide to use stronger methods. Like kicking and slamming my body against the wall. It's not until the floating room starts shaking horribly and about to lose its balance due to the impact that Ryu finally pinpoints where I am.

"So she's awake, huh?" The man has also noticed me from afar and shifts his attention away from the shinobi kneeling before him. "Hmm... Much sooner than I thought."

Taking the rare chance that the enemy isn't looking, Ryu kicks the gun off the man's hand and charges at him. Successfully stealing a remote hidden inside his pocket and clicks the button. The four walls floating on the air start falling apart and I land onto the ground below, unharmed.

Concerned, Ryu releases the man and dashes to where I am to get me out of here.

Not letting us escape so easily, The man in lab coat approaches one of the machine nearby and start typing on them. Releasing an army of white armored robot which are around human size, two metallic hands that sharped like swords and legs, no face or neck but a huge red eyes in the middle of its round head. The ones that I've seen chasing after us back then, but much more upgraded in combat and smaller, more agile than it used to be.

Despite having destroyed anything that gets in his way. More and more of them keep coming and only a minute later, Ryu ends up getting surrounded. Not wasting any second, the man grabs his gun lying on the floor and approaches to where Ryu is standing to seize him.

 _There are too many of them! At this rate he won't be able to last long!_ Figured that it would be unwise to join the fight, I decide to look for another solution to help him. By sneaking behind the giant tubes and crawling my way toward to the machine that man has used earlier.

 _I remember he hit some buttons on this thing to activate those robots. Perhaps I can deactivate them with it too?_ I scan the white machine box's keyboard, large screen which are full of weird symbols and buttons to look for a clue. Then my eyes stop at a giant red button and a level, two of which are sitting next to each other at the top of the table.

Since there's no time thinking, I activate them both. And among the indecipherable words pop up on the screen, there are yes and no options. Quickly I pick yes, multiple times. _Maybe this is it?_

Immediately the machine suffers from over voltage and completely shuts down. Black smoke begins appearing and I quickly back away in case of any explosion. Then alarm starts ringing all over the place and the whole room turns into one red color by the lights on the wall. Coming up next is the whole ground starts shaking horribly.

 _No! She must have mistook the control board to..._ Horrified for what is about to come from his latest, unstabilized experiment. He shouts at me and quickly finds a place to cover himself. "Get out of there! Now!"

"What?" As I try to make a run for my life, however, a black hole which is triple my size, generates out of nowhere on top of my head and starts sucking me into it. Everything happened so sudden and fast that I didn't have the chance to grab or hold onto something to save myself.

And just like that Nina is being picked up into the air helplessly like a little toy and vanishes into the dark space, much to Ryu's terror. "Nina!"

Quickly he pushes his way through the robot army and tries to follow her through the portal but it's already too late. The black hole has been closed and disappeared completely.

..

...

"...Hey!"

..

 _How noisy, leave me alone..._

 _.._

"Hey! Are you alive?!"

 _Who...? That's not Momiji's or Ryu's voice..._ My eyes open slowly and as soon as the view is starting to get clear, I see a boy's face which is awfully familiar. Blond, spiky hair and blue eyes and three whisker markings on his cheeks. _Wait, isn't that Naruto?_

 _Am I still dreaming?_ Too tired to care, I close my eyes and attempt to falling back to sleep. However, sharp pain starts to kick in all over my body and I yelp. Successfully awaken me completely. "Ouch!"

And now, right in front of my face is Uzumaki Naruto, in flesh. Not someone that is created by some special effects or an illusion that I saw on one of the TV shows. Still not believing in my own eyes, I sit straight up and our heads hit each other hard in result.

"Ouch!" The boy falls backwards onto the grass due to the sudden impact, yelling. "That's hurt, ya know!"

Bright sunshine, white clouds, blue sky and trees, birds chirping all over the place. I feel the wind carries the scent of wild flower through my face. _Is this a forest? Why am I in a forest? It was still a lab a while ago..._

"Please don't move around too much, You're badly injured." Much to my surprise, Haruno Sakura approaches me in concern. However she starts acting awkward as I keep staring at her from heads to toes.

 _Do I have something on my face? Why is she looking at me like that?_ Sakura smiles wryly and begins studying the mysterious girl closely.

Messy orange hair down to her neck, yellow eyes, fair skin but face covered in blood and dirt, dry lips with several cuts perhaps due to a fight. Average body figure, age and height are probably the same as hers. Orange kimono, butterfly hairpin on the left side of her head, a shinobi's pocket on her right leg, a couple of daggers on her waist, gloves, stocking and knee-high boots. Nothing too special.

Kneeling next to me is Kakashi, who is speaking to the other members in his group while checking my pulse and limbs. "These wounds must have been caused by falling from high places, I'm surprised that she still make it out alive."

What the f*ck is going on?! Hatake Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage to be, is seriously sitting right beside me?! He's so real that it's feel so weird no matter how much I look at him.

"What the hell? Are you saying she fell from up there?!" Naruto shouts in disbelief. Pointing at the top of the hill, which is conveniently lying nearby. "Who would be crazy enough to jump from there?! Was she trying to kill herself or something?!"

"Perhaps she was being chased by someone, or something." Kakashi concludes.

 _Though what's more surprising is that the girl is actually healing herself. Not at fast as Naruto but still recognizable._ The white haired man frowns, watching the deep cut and broken bones on her body starts mending without any medical help. _I'm quite positive that her condition was much worse before we found her._

Not being bothered as much as the other three, Uchiha Sasuke just stands nearby watching. Throwing comments here and there. "Judging from her attire, this girl must be a shinobi. And yet she has no headbands on. I wonder if she belongs to any village around here."

"I.. I..." Overwhelmed by everything, my mouth can only produce inaudible words. And before I'm able to answer in something informative, darkness has once again taken over me.

"Ah! She fainted!"

 **Hours later inside one of Konoha's hospital rooms.**

"Gasp!" I jolt up from nightmare and find myself lying on a hospital bed, body full of bandages. Surrounding me from closest to farthest are the kid version of Naruto, Sakura (still keeping her hair long), Kakashi (except him) and Sasuke. _It's team seven again! Is this another dream?!_

"It's alright, calm down. Everything's fine now." Soon I realize the painful truth that this is not the moment feeling Sakura's gentle touch on my shoulder. "Rest some more, since you're still weak."

I know that she's trying to calm me down but still, it definitely not helping at all.

"No! This is not alright." I cringe, trying to get out of the bed and get the hell out of this place. "Why am I here, I am not suppose to be here!"

How can I be resting in peace when Ryu is waiting for me back there, and not to mention that man is having him captured. There's no way I'm going to sit in one place and doing nothing!

"What do you mean you're not suppose to be here?" Getting curious about my sudden outburst, Kakashi, who has been leaning on the wall and reading his book, approaches my bed. "What happened to you?"

 _That black hole from the lab must have something to do with this! It must have brought me into this place!_ I grab my head and groan at the unexpected turn of event. Of course, meeting and talking to Naruto's characters in real life has always been one of my lifetime wishes. But right now is really not the time, especially not in this situation.

"Don't worry. No one here is going to hurt you." Assumed that I'm suffering from a serious trauma, Sakura assures me.

"I know that, it's just..." After spending a while not being able to explain my situation properly, I let out a long sigh and drop my head, defeated. Presumed that it would be useless throwing tantrum here and slowly giving up to my fate. Since I have no idea how to go back home and there is pretty much no one here who can help me. "You just don't understand."

"Understand what?" Kakashi's eye suddenly sharpens and I gulp.

"N-No, it's nothing. Never mind that."

Is it okay for me to tell them that I've come from another dimension? Would they believe me or start doubting that I've hit my head somewhere and become crazy?

"Anyway, what's your name? We can't just keep calling you *girl* or *you, right? There must be another way for us to address you properly." Therefore Saskura suggests, pointing at herself to begins the introduction then to the spiky yellow-haired boy next to her. "Well my name is Haruno Sakura, and this is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hatake Kakashi. I'm their teacher." Kakashi states and Sakura gestures her hand toward to the grumpy black-haired guy standing at the corner of the room. The one that hasn't spared a glance at me and keeps staring at scenery outside the window ever since the beginning. "Over there is Uchiha Sasuke."

"Nina." Figured that it would be rude not to say something in return since they have saved me, I start answering their requests.

"Just Nina?" Naruto tilts his head and I nod.

"Really? No surname or whatever?"

"No."

"How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Oh! the same as us!"

Yes, What a coincidence...

"And where are you from? Your parents?" Then Kakashi takes his turn to ask.

"Somewhere far away." I answer what I thought was best. "And I don't know anything about my parents."

Parents huh? Either they're long dead or I was abandoned. Who knew. I recalled nothing about my life before waking up as No. 9 and following Ryu into his village.

No friends, family, not a single feeling of longing for a certain place or an attachment. To be honest I didn't really care about these kind of subject until Kakashi started bringing it up. Even back then Ryu, Momiji, Ayane or Kasumi had never asked me anything like that.

But I wonder why they did not? At least for once mentioning about my parents? Did they really have no idea about it or they were hiding something about them from me?

"Is there anyone from your place we can contact with?" Kakashi asks me again and I shake my head.

There actually are but I doubt that any of you will be able to reach to them anyway. At least not with the technology from this period, where Team Seven is a bunch of kids struggling with B rank missions and the Third Hokage is probably still alive.

After spending a short moment of deep thinking and staring at me. He speaks up. "Is there anybody who survived?"

Survived? Could it be that Kakashi thought my village was massacred by bandits? And somehow I was the only one who managed to get out alive. Judging from both of my messy mental and physical states, blood-stained clothes and mysterious background.

But then again coming from Kakashi, I bet later on he's going to investigate in secret to gain more information about me to check whether I'm lying or not. At least to make sure that I'm not here as a spy or having any intention to harm Konoha.

Much to everyone's shock, I shake my head again and he sighs. "Figured as much."

"Poor girl..." Sakura shows her sympathy to me while the boys expressions turns sour after hearing briefly about my miserable situation.

I guess it would be best to play along with Kakashi's temporary theory as much as I can. Saving myself a long way from having to explain everything about crazy stuff from another world to everyone here. Something that I am pretty certain no one will ever understands or cares about.

"Uhm... Did you really jump off the hill because those guys who destroyed your village were after you?" Naruto asks to confirm whether Kakashi's prediction earlier was right. "Do you remember their faces or anything special about them?"

 _Jumping off what hill? What is he talking about?_ His question causes me dumbfounded for a moment before the memory gradually kicking in. _Now that reminds me,_ _when we first met they did mention something along the line of, "Jumping off the hill because I was being chased by someone or something."_

How fortunate! Now I don't have to find an excuse for these injuries that definitely caused by that damn black hole, which had probably dropped my body in the middle of the sky and almost killed me.

"I had no choice and no, I don't have any memories about them."

I wonder if he's trying to help me to take revenge on those who killed my people. How nice of him, considering we've only just met and knows nothing much about each other, except for sharing the similar pitiful background.

"What are we going to do with her?" For some reasons Sasuke finally opens his mouth to speak and turns to face me.

"Well first thing first, we need to wait for her to completely recovered." Kakashi suggests everyone to go home to rest since it's almost night. "Then tomorrow morning we will bring her to Sandaime and let him decide from there."

 **The next day at the Hokage's office.**

As I've expected, the Third Hokage is alive and well. Sitting behind the table full of documents with a cigarette in his mouth.

After having explained everything to him, including the not so informative data about my identity that Kakashi learnt behind my back in the same day he found me and so on. The old man smokes his cigarette for a several times before speaking to the team seven's leader. "Well since you're the one who found her..."

 _Somehow I have a bad feeling about this._ Kakashi gulps in silent, waiting patiently for the old man's instruction.

"Then I'll leave her in your care." Hiruzen smiles, much to the team seven's shock. "Eh?!"

"But first." Not waiting for any complain or objection, the old man turns to me. "We have a test for you."

"Eh?!" This time I'm the one who gasp in shock like a dead fish. _I'm only here for no more than a day and you've already decided to test me?! Are you for real?!_


	3. Chapter 3

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

As Hiruzen's desired, the so called *test* that I am about to be take is actually the one from this year's Genin exam, which Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura had attended way back at chapter 1.

Since I will be appointed to team seven, there's a high chance for me to run missions with them as they cannot babysitting me forever.

That's why it's a must for me to be qualified for the Shinobi's jobs. To make sure that I am capable of catching up with the others within the team and taking care of myself, or my teammates whenever necessary.

It may sounds hasty at first since I only come here for like a day, though Hiruzen claimed that there's nothing wrong with me joining the Konoha's shinobi squad before starting to explore the village.

Not to mention that Chuunin exam is right around the corner so I better prepare for it straightaway, in case I want to attend that is.

So here I am at the academy, standing in the middle of the exam room with Iruka, my examiner, to test my shinobi's technique after going through an hour of troublesome writing test.

"Okay, Henge no Jutsu and Bunshin no Jutsu. Can you perform any of them?" After I finished showing him my shuriken's throwing skills. Iruka asks me, writing something into the clipboard with a pen in his hand.

Bunshin shouldn't be a problem since Ryu had taught me that in one of our training processes but for this Henge thing. Well, I did try learning that by myself for several times already thanks to Naruto's influences but had not yet succeed, even for once.

"No and yes. I know nothing about Henge no Jutsu because I didn't have the chance to learn this technique at home. Perhaps I can do it if you show me how?"

I ask him for a hint. Hoping that I will be able to get it right if I witness the transform being done in reality.

After spending a short moment thinking, Iruka finally agrees. "Fine, but for one time only."

Immediately he does the hand seals following Dog, Boar, Ram to transform himself into Naruto and explains briefly.

Pretty much the same with how we use Ki, which shares similar functions to chakra, to manipulate various of Ninpou (Shinobi arts) in my world. This technique requires gathering of chakra to turn myself into someone or something else, requiring constant emission of chakra and mentally in order to maintain the form. Simple and easy as anyone who is a shinobi knows how to perform it.

 _And here I thought he would be telling me something that I don't know. Oh well, here goes nothing._ I groan in defeat and start doing the hand sign exactly how he did earlier.

Nothing happens, just as I expected. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up in one single try so I keep doing the hand signals all over. Again and again.

The more watching my failures, the more hopeless it gets and after about half and hour. Iruka speaks up. "Perhaps you are..."

"No! Not yet! Please, just one more time!" I beg him for one final chance, giving my all into this one attempt before everything is over.

And hard works finally pay off as at the very last minute, the ninjutsu works and I transform into Iruka. The feeling of success is so overwhelmed that I almost burst into tears. _Yes! I did it!_

Although I can only retain the ninjutsu for about a couple of seconds before turning back into my original self due to lacking of concentration. Still, Iruka smiles and approves my messy performances.

"Good job. Now what's left to do is to combine this result here with the writing one that you took earlier to calculate your total grade. So in the mean time, you can wait at the hall outside."

Another half an hour spending walking back and forth, Iruka eventually shows up to inform to me about my score. "The result showing that your shinobi's abilities is rated 60/100, quite average but at least you passed."

I sigh in relief after hearing the good news and Iruka continues. "As decided, you will be placed into team 7, in Kakashi's care. He will continue judging your ability from then on."

"Also, please come to the Hokage office after this. There is something Sandaime needs to discuss with you."

"Oh, okay." I wonder what the old man wants to talk about.

It turned out that while I was busy struggling with the Genin exam, Hiruzen had found a place within the village for me to live by for the time being. It's an old room inside an apartment that has enough space for one person, and properties to serve daily living activities. Not to mention about being conveniently near Naruto's house.

*I hope you two can be good friends* or so he said when I asked why.

Therefore I decide to explore the village to kill off some time. I come by Naruto's place to find him not at home, same goes with Sakura, and then Sasuke. Well, I don't have to visit his house to know that he isn't there. Instead I spend a good amount of time wandering around the empty Uchiha's district for sightseeing before leaving.

My next destinations are Ichiraku ramen and Dango shop, Amaguriama. The dishes smell and look incredible, much more than when I saw them on paper or TV. But sadly I don't have money to pay for any and I don't feel like asking for free food. _Perhaps next time._

After that is the Hokage Rock, Konoha Cemetry, Libraby and Orphanage.

It's not until evening that I return to the apartment, but too tired to find anything to eat and just sit idly on a white futon in the middle of the room. Staring at the newly Konoha's headband in my hands and let out a long sigh while thinking about my dark and misty future. _I can't believe there's one day I would actually become a Konoha shinobi._

Yet I'm not too happy about this special event as much as I thought I would be, back when I was still constantly dreaming about waking up as a character from Naruto's world and started hanging out with everyone there.

Right now it feels as if these kind of stuff are no longer important to me.

 _Momiji was still battling the enemies when I was captured. Our village, has it been crushed down by those men? What about Ryu? Is he alright? Have Ayane and Kasumi come to help them yet?_

I wish there was a miracle to bring me back home, even for a little bit is fine, so that I can see how they are doing. Or at least, before it's too late, to be able to tell Ryu, Momiji, Ayane and Kasumi that I love them more than anything...

A couple knocks on my glasses windows tossed me out of my thought and I notice a tall shadow standing right outside of my room. Immediately, I get up from my spot and reach to the Kunai hanging on my leg for defense.

Only then the figure speaks up. "It's me."

"Kakashi-sensei?" I loosen my grip on the weapon and approach the windows to open them. Finding Kakashi's leaning against the wall facing his back to me, completely relaxed.

"Here, I figured that you hadn't had anything since noon." He says and hands me a take-out Ichiraku ramen bowl.

Ichiraku ramen? He must have had dinner with the team and decided to buy an extra serving for me. Saving him time running around the area finding suitable food.

"Thank you so much." I accept the bowl from him. The delicious smell coming from the food inside causes my stomach to grumble. Not so loud but enough for him to hear and he chuckles.

"We're going to start our training session at 7 a.m tomorrow at our usual training spot. Do you know the way there? Want me to draw a map or something?"

"There's no need to. I'm good."

"Then be sure to be there on time, okay?"

"Okay." I nod in response and only waiting for that, the white haired guy disappears. _Come and goes just like lightnings._

 _.._

 _..._

 **Last night**

After tossed and turned on the hospital bed for countless time, I still couldn't get myself to sleep and kept staring at the white ceiling for hours.

Bored, I step off the bed and approach the opened window to watch the night scenery of Konohagakure. Nothing new, nothing too extraordinary out of the books or movies that I've read and watched, everything except for me. A complete stranger who is not belong to this world.

Soon I felt a presence behind me. It was Kakashi and his Body Flicker Technique.

"It's midnight already, why are you here?" I asked, fixing my attention on the bright moon up above.

My answers earlier in the afternoon must had not satisfy him. And now he returned to interrogate me, alone, in order to gain more specific info.

"You're not from this land, are you?" Stated the ex-anbu, an uneasy feeling about this mysterious girl started building in him when the outcome of data gathering for the whole evening about her identity was zero.

 _ _No one knows about her,_ no relatives or anything related to her hometown incident. All we got was her age and name, which were yet to be proved accurate. It's as if this girl had appeared out of thin air or some sort._

Kakashi's tone sounded serious, but I was sure that he bear no ill will.

"Not in the least. I told you that I came from somewhere far away, didn't I?"

"What is it called?"

"Hayabusa Shinobi no Sato."

 _Hayabusa Shinobi Village?_ Kakashi frowned as the name sadly didn't ring any bell to him. Still, he decided to keep that *made up name* inside his head. Thinking that it might come in handy in the future.

"I shouldn't be saying this but lying or hiding about yourself won't do you any good. We're here to help, not to harm you." Adjusting the headband on his forehead, the white haired man reminded me.

"I have no reason to lie to you."

Funny enough, I was actually being honest with him this time. I did come from a place called Hayabusa Shinobi Village and it's dimensions away from this world.

Sounded crazy alright, plus I didn't have anything to backup for that statement. I had nothing in my hands to show him that I was speaking the truth. Even if that place actually existed, I was quite confident that he would never be able to find it.

For everything I said, whether truth or not, would all turn into lies in the end. So I resolved to stop bothering about it and went along with anything that was logical. _Killed, abandoned, wanted or whatever. I don't give a damn._

 _..._

 _.._

I'm sure Hiruzen has his purposes to leave me in Kakashi's hands, so that he can keep an eye on me closely and acts quick in case of any strange actions. Or also due to the fact that he's the only one, or so I thought, capable of doing any of those things without getting himself noticed.

Once finish eating, I lay down onto the futon and turn to my right side. Facing the closed window and an wooden desk with nothing but a small clock on it. Then my eyes widen after reading the time. _Oh snap, 10 p.m already?!_

Damn, I have to stop exhausting myself with all the negative thoughts and get to sleep. Since I was told to meet up with the members of team seven tomorrow, *early* in the morning.

 **Next morning**

At team 7's training spot.

I overslept and it's not until 9 a.m that I arrive to the place and find the trio there. Sasuke is leaning against a tree with Sakura standing nearby, and Naruto is sitting on the ground not too far away. Though none of them seem to be in a good mood by the look on their faces.

"He's late! Again!" Naruto yells since this is the nth time their teacher not being on time. Though boy instantly stops complaining the moment he sees me. "Ah! Nina-chan!"

His call also catches the other two attentions and they start looking at my direction. As soon as I approach them, Naruto gives me a thumb up. "I heard you passed Genin exam. Congratulation!"

"Yes, Kakashi sensei told us about your success yesterday. Congrats." Sakura smiles and I nod to them in appreciation. "Thank you."

We continue chatting a bit more while waiting for Kakashi to arrive. And for the whole time I notice Naruto's expression looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't. Therefore I ask him. "What's wrong Naruto?"

"Well, I mean you passed the exam without spending a day of practicing despite being a total newcomer. I'm just wondering how good of a shinobi you are, that's all."

Despite not speaking directly to my face, I still can understand what his words are implying. And that the boy wants to have a match with me.

"Quit it, can't you see that she just got out of the hospital?!" Sakura shouts at him for suggesting the bad idea. Although her inner self speaks the otherwise. _Actually I'm curious too..._

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine." Seeing them both being so eager, I give in to their requests without thinking since my injuries are all healed Much to their surprises.

"Really?! Does that mean..."

"Yeah, I'm totally up for it."

"So we're going for 1v1?"

"Then I'll go first." Sasuke declares out of nowhere and steps forward, much to Naruto's objection though Sakura immediately shut him up by a punch to his stubborn head.

 _The hell is wrong with that Uchiha?_ _ _A moment ago_ he acted completely no interested or whatever, and now he's so determined to be the first one to jump onto the hype train._ I raise an eyebrow at his confusing action but follow the guy to the empty lot anyway.

Without anyone noticing, Kakashi has arrived at the spot and instead of showing himself, he settled behind one of the trees nearby to watch his students sparring.

Before getting started, I ask Sasuke. "So is there any special rule?"

"Do your best and win." He responds and moves into his combat stance.

 _I will assume that sentence means there's none._ Taking a deep breath and avoiding his eyes, I get into defense stance and patiently wait for Sakura's countdown from three to one.

"Go!" Sasuke starts by throwing multiple Shuriken at Nina in attempt to distract her and charges forward to slash with a Kunai. Luckily the girl manages to block it in time using a Kunai that she has draw out to protect herself at the beginning of the battle.

 _Oh, she's left-handed._ Four of them notice Nina's primary hand and leg as she kicks Sasuke out of the way to gain a safe distance. However it doesn't help much as Sasuke's speed overwhelms hers and she has no choice but to keep defending. Yet still getting hit here and there.

Whenever she tries to land an attack, Sasuke would counter her instantly and she only ends up earning more damages. Tired of toying around, Sasuke tricks her in thinking that he has left an open side and Nina easily fallen for it, by changing her position from defensive to offensive and aim for the free point to strike.

Only waiting for that, Sasuke kicks the Kunai off her hand into the air and initiates a short combo with another leg to send Nina flying toward to the tree's body with another kick to the stomach. Quickly ending the fight.

 _That bastard sure isn't holding back. Does he know that this is just a friendly match and not a death match?_ Naruto groans and walks over to help Nina get up.

"You okay?"

I nod in response and he grins. "Great. Are you still up for the next round?"

"Sure."

And then it's Naruto's turn. The match goes smoothly and all for them since the boy doesn't take it as seriously as Sasuke. No usage of Kunai or shuriken, just simple Tatjustsu and neither of the two has any intention to hurt each other. Though Nina has to admit that Naruto's good with his fists and knows exactly what's he doing.

Everything ends however the moment he uses Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to confuse the hell out of her mind. Eventually she wears herself out due to fighting the endless wave of clones, which are doing nothing but jumping at Nina in order to seize her.

Coming up next is Sakura, however Nina's already exhausted after battling the other two and just charges head on unconsciously. In the end Sakura wins easily by outsmarting the girl with her plans and perfect timing attacks.

Therefore the matches end with Nina losing to all three. Sasuke holds the first place at 1 minute, following Sakura 2 minutes and Naruto 5 minutes.

"Don't feel sad, okay? You fought great!" Naruto comforts when seeing me sulking over the bad results. The boy is so bright and innocent that there is no way I can bring myself to be mad at him.

"Yeah, for someone who was just recovered from fatal injuries. You handled it well." Sakura adds.

Sasuke doesn't seem to agree so however. _Her movements are way too clumsy, reflexes and decisions are too slow, no usage of ninjutsu. Plus her grip on the Kunai is so frail that it's just too easy to trip it off her hand. The problem obviously isn't coming from her health, but her lack of skills.  
_

In conclusion, she's a total weakling and probably even worse than Sakura.

"Another dead weight to the team." Sasuke spat and walks off.

"Hey! Don't be so mean! I'm sure Nina-chan has something she's good at, you know!" Naruto yells back.

"Then she better hurry and gets it to work. Because if that was either Zabuza or Haku just now, she would have been long gone."

Zabuza? So they must have finished the Lands of Waves Escort Mission. Then that's mean Chuunin exam story arc would be coming up next. Damn, I didn't expect it to be this close when being informed by Hiruzen earlier.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura's expression turns gloomy after recalling to the incident that almost killed the whole team and Naruto too, despite wanting to say something to object but he has to admit somewhere in his heart that Sasuke's right.

"It's okay Naruto. It's true that am weak, but it's also because you guys are very talented so there's no way I can win."

Doesn't want those two fighting over trivial thing, I admit my flaw in hope to calm them down. Fortunately they do as Sasuke stops bothering about it and turns away, while Naruto grins shyly by the sudden praise.

"I will train with you, how about it?" Sympathized with my condition, Naruto suggests helping me to improve my shinobi's skill.

"Of course, I'm up for it whenever you want." And I agree, thinking that it may be a good chance for us to befriend and find no reason to refuse such generous offer. Though the only problem is that if we will ever have the time, or spirits to do so when a big storm is about to come to Konoha. And to the team 7 themselves.

 _Yes!_ Meanwhile Sakura's inner self holds up her fists up the air, doing a victory pose after hearing their short conversation. Satisfied that there has appeared someone who can take Naruto off her shoulders and now she's finally free to follow Sasuke without being disturbed.

"Hey guys, I got lost." Kakashi shows his face up late again with another lame excuse.

And of course, none of us is buying it. "You're lying!"

"Anyway play time's over. Everyone, let's head to the Hokage's office. There's a mission waiting for us."

Kakashi informs them about their upcoming mission bring joy to the whole team. Not wasting time, Naruto takes the lead and runs off to Hokage's office direction before any of us can act.

 _Let's just hope that it's nothing too important or dangerous._ Me, on the other hand, doesn't seem as much enthusiastic as the Naruto's protagonists are. Following the rest of team seven to Hiruzen's place.


	4. Chapter 4

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

"Another D rank mission?!"

"Delivery a package to Kazuhiro from the Sunshine village?" Sakura reads out loud what is written inside the scroll we receive from Hiruzen. While I take a closer look at the package sitting neatly on the table in front of us.

A medium sized parcel box tied by green ropes. Doesn't look too heavy and I doubt that it's going to contain any high-valued item in there. After all this is only a D rank mission.

"Indeed. This is a request from Kazuhiro-san, the village leader himself." Hiruzen nods and while proceeds explaining the information further to us, Naruto cuts him of with a big yawn. "B-o-r-i-n-g."

"Don't be rude!" Kakashi hits the boy's head to fix his annoying attitude.

Unlike the other kids within the team never stop whining and complaining, I'm actually feel lucky to be ordered doing simple task. Because that means there would be no hard work and what's more, not having to fight anyone or anything.

"You knew how we did at the Land of wave, did you? So find us something better to do!" The boy yells, not hiding his irritation even a little despite standing inside Hokage's room and speaking directly to the man himself.

"Was Nina there with you?"

"Eh?"

"Let's make this simpler. Has she ever gone to a mission with team 7 yet?"

"Well, no..."

"Ever experienced the importance of team work?"

"Uhm..."

"Exactly. Not everything is always surrounding about how you feel, Naruto. Since Nina only became Genin yesterday. We can't afford sending her into potentially dangerous places. At least not until she gets used to the way we, the shinobi of Konohagakure, work on our missions."

Now that Hirzuzen is being too reasonable, Naruto has no choice but to stay silent and fulfills his D rank mission as ordered.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Figured Naruto would be sulking over this matter, I approach the boy to apologize since I do not want to see him throwing tantrum for the rest of the day.

Although most of my worries has turned in vain as Naruto regains his positive side much faster than I thought he would be.

"What are you saying sorry for? There's always next time, right?" He grins.

As planned, Team 7 will be leaving Konoha for delivery mission in two days, following Kakashi's instructions and the reward would be around 20,000 ryo if we succeed. And as soon as everyone gets out of Hokage's room, Kakashi suggests.

"Since it's still early for us to go home packaging, let's gather at the third training ground for our usual training, shall we?"

Third training ground? Oh boy, let's just hope that it's not going to be...

 **Third Training Ground**

"A bell test."

Kakashi smiles and show us the bells hanging between his fingers.

 _God dammit_. Out of everything, this is the only test that I want to avoid doing as much as possible. I should just have made up some lame excuse and ran off when I had the chance to. Instead of mindlessly following everyone here like an idiot.

However he soon puts them back into his pocket and offers something else beforehand. "But that is for the latter. Now, let's start with a proper introduction between ourselves, shall we?"

"A proper introduction?" Everyone shoots him a puzzled look and he nods. "Mostly for Nina only since I've already known about you lots."

"Since we've become teammate, it's essential for us to learn and understand more about each other. Not just simply name and age..." He goes on and on explaining why it's important to speak about oneself. Because not only this is the beginning of creating bonds between teammates but also building a trusting teamwork.

"Like, for example, my name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are up for you to find out. Dreams for future? Hmm... Not really. I have a lot of hobbies... Here and there..."

Wow, I definitely learnt a lot about him after hearing those. _Very detailed self-intro, indeed._

Since I wasn't here when they first introduced themselves, Kakashi suggests everyone to redo all over for me to learn and follow. Therefore Naruto would go first, expressing his obsession with various type of Ramen and long term wish to become the greatest Hokage in the future, bonus a tint of the love-hate relationship he shares with Sasuke.

Next is Sakura who is fond of sweet, hanging out with friends to do girl stuff and a certain black haired boy. Hate annoying and dumb people. Long term wish is to change her surname from Haruno to Uchiha and helping her husband in resurrecting his almighty clan.

Actually, the last part was my saying since Sakura didn't reveal anything to us except for constant blushing.

And finally Sasuke. Well, simply just Uchiha Sasuke from the Uchiha clan.

"That's it?" Asked Naruto but the boy ignores him and shifts his head away from us. While their teacher can only sighs and shakes his head.

"Alright, you're the only one left. Nina." Kakashi urges me to speak and the other three start pointing their attentions to my face, which is so uncalled for because those piercing, bright round eyes are now starting to make me nervous.

After spending a long moment thinking of what I should say and should not, I decide to go with...

"There is nothing much about me to share with you guys, to be honest. Though I do have favorite food. Especially treats like Mochi and Dango, or Sundae. Is that count?"

"Well... I guess?" Kakashi's head tilts and his voice starts trailing off, probably being unsatisfied with my insincere answer. Too bad he isn't allowed, or authorized to force me spilling more. "Any dream for futures?"

"Like going home and reuniting with my people?" Sasuke's face grows serious the moment I poke into the sensitive subject that mostly everyone avoid talking about, or at least not with his face around. "Sadly none of those is going to happen no matter how much I wish for it."

The atmosphere suddenly turns heavy, no one speaks a word until Kakashi breaks the ice with the instant change of subject. "A-Anyway, let's get to the main objective of the day, shall we?"

Hearing so, everyone gets up on their feet and waits for his order.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Nina. You four shall act as a team and try to take these bells away from me. I will give you two hours to finish the test. Ready?"

The team 7 members look at each other and nod.

"Here I come!" Naruto goes first to distract their teacher with Kage Bunshin no Jutsu while the rest of the team take cover behind one of the bushes nearby to come up with a plan.

"Good, he hasn't noticed us." After checking and finds no sight of clone, Sasuke reports the situation to the other two then turns to Nina. "We will go left, you go right. And once you're there, wait for my signal."

Once done leaving instructions, both Sasuke and Sakura departs to the left side near Naruto while Nina quietly makes her way to the right, toward to the empty spot behind where Kakashi is standing.

And as soon as she reaches to the destination, Sasuke gives her a hand signal to countdown from three to one.

and "Go!" Sasuke and Sakura jump into the battle to help Naruto getting a hold of Kakashi at the most unexpected moment. While Nina sneaks behind him to snatch the bells.

However she trips over a small rock lying on the ground and falls before she can reach to Kakashi's pocket. Immediately alerting their teacher about her presence and ruining their whole plan. Much to Sasuke's irritation.

With no other choice, everyone has to continue seizing Kakashi's limbs in hope that Nina will quickly recover to finish the test. Yet she takes too long to get up and Kakashi has already used Kawamiri no Jutsu to gets out of their grips. Then teleports behind Nina since she's the most vulnerable target at the moment and casts Genjutsu on her.

Different from his expectation to see Nina react by screaming, crying, or bearing any specific expression to prove that she's hit by a Genjustsu. The girl just collapses onto the ground and remains quiet.

And an hour later when the test is already over, she still lying on the same spot and having no sign of moving. Concerned, Sakura approaches Nina to wake her up. From shaking her shoulder to calling her name and even tapping, slapping her cheeks. None worked.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think Nina-chan is unconscious." Therefore Sakura reports, much to everyone's surprise.

"Really?" Kakashi scratches the back of his head awkwardly and approaches to check on the girl. Shocked to find that she is knocked out cold because of his Genjutsu. _Did I somehow overdo it?  
_

"Couldn't even stand a little Genjutsu. Was she made out of glass?" Sasuke comments, cannot believe how useless his new teammate can be. He knew from the start that she's weak, but this is just a whole new level.

"Perhaps Nina-chan hasn't recovered completely from those injuries after all." Naruto sighs, watching Nina sleeping soundly on the grass while Sakura turns speechless by the girl's recklessness.

"Training's over everyone. I'm going to take her to the hospital for a proper checkup." Kakashi speaks to his team and carries Nina into his arms. Heading toward to Konoha's hospital direction with his team members following closely behind.

 **Hours later in the afternoon.**

Nina finally wakes up from her slumber to greet her teammates. Much to Naruto's and Sakura's joy.

"How are you feeling?" Naruto's face is the first thing to get into my view, then Sakura who is standing next to him at the left side of the hospital bed.

"Doctor told me that your body's fine, all of the past injuries had been healed. So the fainting just now was mostly due to shock." Therefore Kakashi approaches and asks. "Say, was that your first time experience Genjustsu?"

I nod in response and he scratches the back of his head. "Hmm, I suppose that's one of the reasons..."

And before I can open my lips to say anything in return, Sasuke's jumps into our conversation.

"You're so weak. What did you do when your loved ones were getting killed by the bandits? Running away, crying and hiding like a total coward?"

"Sasuke, enough." Kakashi stops the boy before he goes too far with his criticism, but being completely ignored.

"Sitting in one place and wishing for your family to be revived won't do you crap. If you bear no desire to get stronger in order to take revenge on those criminals or doing whatsoever to improve yourself. Then you better off quitting being a shinobi."

"I said that's enough." It's not until Kakashi raises his voice that Sasuke finally shuts his mouth. Shooting an annoyed glance at his teacher before walking toward to the opened window and jumps outside.

 _That was quite harsh_. Even though already knew that Uchiha had never been a happy kid for the whole series, but this was way more than what I'd expected.

If my background story's actually true like everyone else here believed. Then having to hear him lecture with *wise and nice words* while already being desperate to the rock bottom would have driven me insane. Jumping at him to fight for my rights and scratching his eyes out even if I have to.

But then again it can also be one of Sasuke's unique ways to express his concern with other people. I seriously don't understand him sometimes.

"What's this guy's deal? He's been acting weird ever since coming back from the Land of Wave, you know." Naruto crosses his arms and speaks about his teammate recently strange behaviors, which he and Sakura have yet to figure out the real reason behind. Though I'm sure Kakashi's already noticed and just doesn't want to talk about it.

Not feeling like spending another day sleeping on boring hospital bed, I get off and attempt to leave the place.

Worried that I'm going alone while still being unwell. Sakura offers to accompany me. "Do you need me to take you home?"

"It's alright, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you guys." Therefore I politely decline. Since I'm not coming home straight away but wandering around the village to enjoy some fresh air. So it's better not to have anyone following me all over the area just because of that.

"What is there to sorry about! We're friends, You know!" Naruto grins and I smile in response. Trying not to cause more trouble for them and quietly get out of the room.

Waiting for Nina to disappear out of sight, Sakura asks Naruto. "Do you think she's upset?"

But the boy just stands there thinking for a couple of minutes before dashing away, much to Sakura's confusion. "H-Hey! Where are you going!"

* * *

While strolling near the training grounds to enjoy the sunset scenery, I spot a similar figure praticing alone by a tree not too far away. Short dark blue haired girl in cream-colored hooded-jacket, navy blue pants and a forehead protector around her neck. _Isn't that Hinata, the heir of Hyuuga's clan and Naruto's future wife?  
_

Judging from her dirty attire and skin, she must have been here for quite a long time. Probably training for the Chuunin exam which is coming close. It's going to be a tough fight with Neji, and we're still having Gaara coming along the way.

Subconsciously, I spend a good amount of time watching her practicing while recalling to the time I had to go through countless of Ryu's ridiculous training sessions in order to become a shinobi.

..

...

It was during a stormy night from two years ago.

"Again." Ryu commanded me to get up. Despite the loud noises of thunders cracking, heavy rain and wind combined surrounding us. His voice still sounded so clear, calm and strict.

"No! I'm tired! I want to go home and sleep!"

Throwing away the Shuriken in my hand to the ground after having failed using it to hit the center of a shooting target on a tree's body for nth times, I disobeyed and remained on the floor fuming. Splashing mud everywhere and yelling back at him.

"I cannot do this anymore! Unlike you or everybody here, I'm not born to be a shinobi!"

How in the hell would you expect me to stay relaxed, aiming and throwing a Shuriken perfectly when I could barely see or walk straight with all the water and wind coming at my body in every direction? Also expecting to be struck by lightnings and die within any seconds out of stupidity because we were now standing under a huge tree during a thunderstorm.

While every other kids in the village was enjoying staying at home eating steamy food and cuddling inside their warm blanket, playing games and watching TV. I had to stay outside in the dark, suffering from coldness, wet, hunger, numb muscles and exhaustion just to re-do Omitsu's old lessons all over and over. It's unfair!

"You claimed that I would be safe in your village. And there would be no one who could harm me! So what's the point for me to train so hard for?! It was because you cannot keep your promise and had no choice but forcing me to become a shinobi, wasn't it?!"

Could no longer stand all the stressful and punishing training courses, I started crying and blaming him for the false vow he made when he first brought me into this place.

However Ryu didn't say anything in return, or even trying to back up his statement. Just stood there watching me throwing tantrum until I eventually got tired and stopped.

"Have you calmed down yet?"

"..."

I shifted my head away, ignoring his question and he sighed. Taking off his jacket to cover my body from the heavy rain and squatted down in front of me, patting my head gently.

"I understand that you're angry with me right now but please listen, Nina. All of the tedious training I had made you do up to this very moment was only for your own good."

"So you knew they were ridiculous." I murmured, wiping the tears mixed with dirt and rain water off my eyes to see him clearer.

"You cannot depend on I and Momiji, or everyone here to protect you forever. There might be one day you have to stand on your own feet and fight for your own life. Without any of us standing by your side."

"You're speaking as if you know that day would come." I frown after hearing what sounded like a very bad joke.

 _A day, month or even years without Ryu or Momiji? For sure I won't be able to survive long_. But if I admitted any of it to him now, he would just throw another *that's one more reason for you to get stronger* or something along that supportive line into my face.

"Neither you nor I can be certain about what future may bring, that's why we all need to be prepared for everything. From the best to worst."

At that time, I thought he only said it just to motivate me to continue training. So I didn't take his words too seriously but didn't give up on trying to be a shinobi either. Because not only there's a huge stubborn part inside of me that didn't want to let him down, but also wanting to show the other kids in the village that I was not a cry baby or a quitter.

...

..

And now I regret so much for not listening to him from the start. This is probably... No, must be the worst situation I've ever been in my life. Being all alone inside a made up world and trying to fit in with a bunch of fictional characters whose personality, backgrounds and deep dark secrets are anything but an open book to me.

Not to mention getting myself involved with their exciting and long lasting adventures, which are just right up ahead, in order to find out their true purposes in life. As much as their real identities while I'm still struggling, having no idea what mine is about and don't even know how, or where to start. _All in all, I'm completely lost._

"Nina-chan!" Suddenly Naruto's loud, high-pitched voice appears right behind me. Successfully surprised both I and Hinata to death.

"What the heck are you yelling for? Why are you here?" Annoyed for being found out hiding behind a tree watching someone else training without their consent, I turn around to find Naruto is standing next to me.

"I got worried so I followed you here. And I did call you multiples times already but you didn't answer so..." He scratches his head, smiling like an idiot and I sigh. Having no choice but to step out of the tree's body to show myself to Hinata.

"N-Naruto k-kun?!" As always, the girl flusters the moment she sees him. Though her expression quickly turns from happy to confused once her white eyes land on me. "Uhm..."

"I'm Nina, new member of team 7." Therefore I announce myself as the newcomer of Kakashi's team, instantly shocked Hinata due to the lack of information and proper explanation. "Eh?!"

"Yeah, stuff happened and now we are a four-man team. Believe it!" Naruto chimes in.

Hinata looks stunned for a short moment before finally be able to introduce herself to me, still fidgeting. "I-Is that so. U-Uhm, my name is Hyuuga Hinata and I'm from team 8. N-Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." As soon as my sentence ends, loud grumbles are heard coming out from both Hinata's and my stomach at the same time. Causing us to freeze on our spot due to embarrassment. While Naruto finds it super hilarious and bursts into laughter.

Instantly realize his mistake when seeing the girl's faces fuming with both anger and shame, his laugh quickly dies down and he offers us something to eat. "H-How about we have dinner at Ichiraku ramen shop? My treat!"

"Your treat? Are you sure that you have enough money for that?" Somewhat is suspicious about his financial status, I ask him and Naruto confidently takes out his green frog wallet to take a look inside.

And he gulps a mouthful of air before turning to us with a force smile, sweating all over his face and talking like Hinata. "N-No problem...! B-Believe it!"

"Okay, let's get going! I will order a lot for us." Figured that there's indeed something wrong since the wallet looks almost empty, I taunt him and gesture Hinata to follow me to the Ichiraku's shop. Much to his distress. "E-Eh?! Wait!"

"Don't worry, it's my treat."

"What?"

"You heard what I said. Believe it." Therefore I show Naruto my purse and his eyes shine like the sun. Jumping for joy when having his ass saved in the last minutes.

Last night when Kakashi came over to my house to deliver food, he had left a small purse that contains allowance for a me to live off a month by myself inside the Ichiraku's ramen package. And I didn't find out about it until I almost trashed the whole thing away into the dumpster. Jeeze, talk about close call...


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note** : I can't tell you guys the exact pairing of the characters (especially OC) since it would spoil the fun of upcoming chapters. But I can reveal a tiny bit that her love interest is one of the canon male shinobi and he's the same age as her. Though I can safely say that the boy is not Naruto because I really adore the NaruHina couple. So I don't think I'm going to change any of that.

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

 **The next morning at the market.**

Unlike Naruto, I can't live off consuming instant ramen or Ichiraku ramen forever. So today I decide to go shopping at the market for proper food. Sadly, anything from restaurant is definitely not the case since I do not have enough money to afford 3 meals like that for the whole month straight. At least not until I get my hands on several missions that reward with good incomes.

After spending almost an hour going through several type of canned food, I still cannot find one type of dish that suited my taste. Perhaps it mostly due to the brands that I've been searching for costs relatively cheap. But it can also because I have always been a picky-eater...

So the only option left is cooking... Which is something I'm very terrible at. Now that Momiji isn't here to prepare meals for me, I realize that I've taken her for granted. _Man, I shouldn't have slacking off improving my cooking skills when I had the chance to._

Though I did learn some simple recipes from her back then, just in case for emergencies and sometimes Momiji asked me to. But the outcome had never been what I wanted it to be. _Best I can do are some simple egg dishes and rice...  
_

 **Meanwhile within the same street.**

"Hey, isn't that the team 7's new girl?" Ino points at the short orange hair Genin wandering around the egg's stalls like a total weirdo up ahead. Her loud voice gains the other two's attentions who are walking alongside with her.

"Oh, you mean Nina?" Choji's head cocks to the side, his hand doesn't stop picking up the chips inside the bag and putting them into his mouth. While Shikamaru just stands there watching and doesn't seem too interested.

They've heard about this mysterious girl from the team 7 members a couple day ago but this is the first time they actually see her in person.

Ino had been worried about the sudden appearance of this new girl and how she was neatly placed into team 7. To think that Nina would have somewhat effected her progress in swooning Sasuke. However, most of Ino's distresses have been cleared out the moment she observes Nina through her own eyes. Combined with all the data she has gathered from the people around, mostly Sakura, Ino can safely assume that this girl is nowhere good enough to be her rival, in everything. _Too average for Sasuke's taste, that's for sure!_

"What's wrong, Shikamaru?" Notice the boy's abnormal silence, Ino asks him.

"Don't you find it weird?" Watching Nina slowly disappears into the crowd up ahead, he explains. "Appearing out of nowhere, no clear background or motive yet still being welcomed to stay in our village almost instantly. And what's not, she has joined into Konoha's shinobi quad and started doing missions just like anyone of us here. Without going through any proper inspections beforehand."

"I really don't get it. Just what's Sandaime's thinking?" Shikamaru scratches the back of his head and sighs. Finding it hard to with cope with Third Hokage's reckless decisions.

"Jeeze. Stop being so skeptical, Shikamaru. I'm sure Sandaime already has it all under control. Beside, she's only a twelves years old kid. From what I've heard about her abilities, Nina's definitely not a threat." Ino shrugs, dismissing his worries and assuming that Shikamaru has overthinking the situation.

Beside, it's quite pointless for them Genin ranked shinobi to get fed up over such matter because if there's anything happen to the village's security. There will be Jounin, perhaps even the Sandaime himself, to step out and take care of it.

"Yeah, even Naruto could take her down easily. Do you think someone like that would bring harm to our village?" Choji laughs, imagining the match between those two in his mind before feeling his stomach grumble. Therefore he suggests his teammates to find a nice place to feast. "Anyway, I'm hungry. Let's go grab something to eat."

"Didn't you just ate?!" Ino snaps after having wasted a whole morning wandering around the area doing nothing interesting nor contributing and Sasuke's still nowhere in sight.

"You call that a meal? That's nothing but an appetizer to me." To Choji defense, he points out that consuming various type of treats are not considered proper food. What he needs right now is something that is served in big amount, like grilled meat.

"Man, what a drag..." Shikamaru has no choice but to follow his teammates from behind and suffering from the two's foolish argument until they both are eventually tired of it and die down. Though their loud voices have also gained Nina attention as they pass by her spot while she's picking up the vegetable into her shopping bag.

 _Isn't that the Ino-Shika-Cho?_ After paying the shop owner, she stays and watches the three's quarrel briefly before taking off to the opposite route. Hoping that one day there would be a chance for her to get to know them naturally. _Interesting trio as always._

* * *

While on their way toward to the training ground, Sasuke and Sakura come across Nina. Therefore Sasuke ignores her presence completely and keeps on walking while Sakura decides to stay behind for a small chat.

"Going shopping?" Approaching Nina, Sakura notices the groceries bags in her hands and she nods. "Yup, I just finished. Are you going to train with Sasuke?"

"Yes! Sasuke-kun agreed to let me help him today!"

"That's great." Seem to be influenced by Sakura's happiness, Nina smiles. Then the girl's amber eyes glance at Sasuke's back before returning to meet her green ones. Not saying anything more and just stand there awkwardly.

Catching a glimpse of several type of food sitting inside the girl's shopping bags, Sakura asks. "Say, that's a lot of fresh ingredients. You know how to cook?"

"Well, sort of. There's still a lot for me to learn." Nina shows her an amateur's cookbook that she just brought from the bookstore nearby.

While waiting for Sakura to scan through the pages, Nina notices the girl's eyes aren't really paying attention to the content inside but to the boy in navy blue shirt up ahead. And about half a minute later, she returns the book to her.

Once done putting it back inside the grocery bag, Nina turns to look at Sasuke again, who is now miles away from them, then back to Sakura, who is doing her best to hide away the anxiety, and finally to the ground below.

"Hey, uhm..." As Sakura's about to bring up another interesting topic to maintain their talk, Nina cuts her off however. "You know, you don't have to force yourself to act so friendly with me."

"What?"

"Hurry, or you're going to lose Sasuke." Nina gesture her head toward to where Sasuke is going and walks off without looking back. Not leaving Sakura a chance to finish what she has to say. "Wait-!"

 _What the heck?! Here I am trying to get to know her better and she just shooed me away like that!_ The inner Sakura's holding up a fist and fuming over Nina's uncooperative attitude. Irritated, she stomps away to catch up with Sasuke. Leaving the girl going home by herself as she's wished.

..

...

At the hospital's hall in the afternoon when Nina's still recovering from Kakashi's Genjutsu attack.

"I know this is quite sudden for all of you. But at least try to be nice to Nina and if possible, get close to her, make her feel comfortable while she's staying here. And let me remind you one more time, this is Sandaime's wish." Kakashi spoke to the three at their small group meeting outside of Nina's room.

"No problem." Naruto held up two fingers making a V sign and grinning brightly. Thinking that he would still help her fitting in with the Konoha's lifestyle anyway even if Sandaimei didn't order him to.

"Good." Kakashi smiled, pleased with his student positive answer then shifted his attention to the couple of kids standing nearby. "What about you two?"

Much different from their overly energetic teammate who would agree to almost anything that involved in making new friends and having fun, both Sakura and Sasuke acted quite reluctant to follow this strange instruction.

For Sakura's case, it was not only because Sasuke didn't enjoy the idea for one bit. But also because having to spend her time helping one person that she barely knew when she could just hangout with Sasuke and the others instead. Beside, there's already Naruto, who could mostly do what she could do. Sakura doubt that her contribution would have changed the situation much.

However after recalling to the girl's horrible condition and what's she had been through to stay alive, Sakura eventually agreed to go along. Much to Kakashi's and Naruto's joy. "Well I don't mind. I guess."

"So... Sasuke."

"Why would I? Isn't that suppose to be your job to begin with?" He dismissed the ridiculous idea and turned away. As there's no reason for him to waste his precious time onto such trivial matter. What he needed to do most at the moment was to train and be prepared for the Chuunin exam, not fooling around playing the family game.

They all knew that they had to retake the bell test yesterday because Kakashi wanted to check Nina's abilities in teamwork. Despite failing miserably, Kakashi still approved for her to join their team officially since she did try her best to act as a team with them and followed his instructions in order to gain the bell.

"Does that mean she passed?" Naruto asked his teacher again to confirm whether Nina had became a part of their team. The boy beamed with delight once Kakashi nodded. "She did what I expected her to do. So why not?"

"Let's inform her when she wakes up!" Sakura suggested to surprise her teammate with the good news and Naruto agreed to follow instantly. While Sasuke didn't seem to be much interested, more like annoyed that there's going to be another weakling staying in his team.

...

..

 **Nina's house.**

After finish sorting everything in place, Nina sits in the middle of her room to take some rest. Taking the headband off her forehead and putting in on the table nearby, she sighs.

 _That was quite rude of me, I wonder if Sakura's angry._ Back in the street I decided to end our conversation abruptly because I had a feeling that if it kept on going, she would somehow managed to convince me to train with them. _It's rare for Sasuke to have Sakura accompany him willingly so I didn't want to ruin their time together.  
_

I was sure Sakura meant well but it wasn't a good opportunity for us, and we both knew it. _Perhaps I should find a way to apologize to her properly later. For now, I'm going to take a nap.  
_

 **Afternoon.**

As I open the front door to leave for some fresh air, I find Naruto's standing right before me and his hand's gesture looks like it's about to knock on the door. "Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"Staying at home all day is too boring so I'm gonna do some training!" Therefore he asks. "Wanna come?"

And I find no reason to refuse his offer. "Sure, I have nothing to do anyway."

 **Training ground.**

Standing in the middle of the area, I ask him. "So, what are we going to do?"

"How about we spar? Do you need to exercise to warm up first?"

"Alright, let's do that."

After around thirty minutes of warming up, we start battle with each other like before but this time with the use of Shurike and Kunai, or any shinobi gadgets we can come up with. We keep going on and on fighting and the moment we're out of breath, three hours have passed and the sun is about to set.

At result of our ten matches, Naruto won 9 out of 10. Though I knew that for the last match, he had let me won on purpose and used it as a way to encourage me not to give up practicing.

"I'm hungry, let's go grab some ramen at Ichiraku." While on our way home, Naruto suggests us to dine at his favorite restaurant and I cringe. _Again? I'm getting tired of eating at that shop already._

And before I can excuse myself since I have already brought groceries this morning, Naruto notices his teammates from far away and calls out to them. "Sakura and Sasuke! I'm going to ask them to join."

 _Guess it's too late to back out now, isn't it..._ I let out a sigh as we approach the Genin couple. And due to Naruto's constant nagging about friendship, they have no choice but follow us to the Ichiraku ramen restaurant to eat dinner there.

 **Ichiraku ramen restaurant.**

We step inside to take a seat. With Naruto staying at the furthest to the left, then me, Sakura and Sasuke.

For the whole time waiting for ramen to arrive, neither I nor Sakura can pick up a proper conversation between ourselves and we keep averting our eyes awkwardly. It's so bad to the point for Naruto to notice something's wrong so he tries to bring up several interesting topics for us to chat with. However it only ends up in short answers or accidentally cutting each other sentences and dead silence.

Sasuke has also realized the reason for Naruto's sudden loudness but decides to ignore it anyway. After enjoying our bowls of ramen and Sakura's yelling at Naruto for being too annoying, we part our ways to get home. Since Naruto and my house are close to each other, we leave in the same direction while Sakura and Sasuke takes different paths.

"See you later."

"See you."

After taking a few steps away however, I halt and tell Naruto to go home first before turning back and run after Sakura. Once seeing the silhouette of Sakura's hair color far up ahead within the dark street, I call out to her. "Sakura!"

"Nina-chan?" Upon hearing my voice, Sakura spins around and shocked to see me approaching her from afar, out of breath. "Why are you here? Aren't you going home with Naruto?"

Taking a deep breath to calm myself down from the nervousness, I begin to apologize. "I'm sorry."

And her eyes widens in surprise, still not figure out what is going on. "For what?"

I stare at the ground, hugging my arm tightly and telling Sakura what's running inside the troublesome head of mine. Hoping that my explanation will clear out the unnecessary misunderstanding and we can return being friends again.

"For... saying that you forced yourself to act friendly with me. I really didn't mean it. In fact, I was happy that you tried to spend your time to get to know me, someone you had just met for no more than a couple of days."

After finish saying what I have to say, my glance turn from my feet to her face but Sakura averts my eyes. She looks troubled, whether because of my words or something else. I'm not sure.

Minutes later and there's still no reply from Sakura, I assume that she still hasn't forgiven me and decide to go home. As I'm about to turn away, I hear her voice. Quite faint but enough for me to hear. "I'm sorry too."

"Why?" I don't think *wanting to follow Sasuke anywhere and anytime* would be the reason here as the one who breaks our conversation back then is me, pretty much all of this ruckus is my fault to begin with. Strange, I wonder what she has to apologize to me for.

"It's hard to explain..." Sakura lowers her head in apologetic, recalling to what happened at the hospital's hall. As her teacher had told them to keep a secret about what they had to do and acted as natural as possible. "Let's just say that you wasn't exactly wrong about it."

Hearing so, I remain on my spot speechlessly and so does she. Looking at our feet awkwardly and unsure what to say up next. After a short silent moment that feel like hours, Sakura coughs into her hand to gain my attention and speaks up.

"How about we try again?"

"Huh?"

"You're still learning how to cook, are you not? How about I lend you a hand?" Sakura giggles at my dumbfounded face and offers to tutor me some cooking classes at my home. Considering that as first step for them to build a close friendship, slowly but steady.

Finally catching up what she's thinking. I nod, smiling to her in appreciation. "That... would be great. Thank you."

 **The next day.**

"Sasuke...?"

"What are you doing at someone else rooftop?"

As I'm about to leave the area quietly after doing my daily exercise around the village while enjoying the beautiful sunrise. Sasuke, however, has caught me standing alone on top of one of the Uchiha's households early in the morning. Needless to say, the boy doesn't look very pleased to see me here...


	6. Chapter 6

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

"But more importantly, why are you here? Inside the Uchiha district." He approaches to the house I'm standing on top at, hands in pocket and glares at me.

"Well... you see, I got lost while taking part in morning exercise and still trying to find the way back." I quickly make my way down the rooftop and escape the area as fast as possible to avoid being interrogated. "A-Anyways, I think that I should get going now, see you later!"

Sasuke looks like he's about to chase after me yet gives up the idea in midway. Lucky me!

 **The main street.**

"Jeeze, that was close." Trying to catch a breath after making a run of my life away from the black haired demon. I take a seat onto one of the stone steps nearby and wipe the sweat off my face. _Running into him of all people. What a way to start the day._

What's with that boy deal anyway? Always being so grumpy and acting uncomfortable, in a negative way, whenever seeing me around. Does he ever get tired of it?

 _As much as I recall, I don't think I have done anything disrespectful to him, yet._

Was it because of something I've said? It can't be, we barely exchange words ever since first time seeing each other. Don't tell me there's something else that I'm not aware of? But there's also a possibility that he just hates me by default.

Now that reminds me. both Naruto and Sakura acted quite strange. They are much friendlier and more willing to help than usual, after the bell test. Except for that spiky dark haired boy, of course. I wonder what Kakashi had told them when I was absent.

..

...

"That fainting from the bell test, you didn't fake it. Did you?"

Asked Kakashi as he visited the mysterious girl again last night by the window for something so called mental health check-up as the last minute excuse.

"What do you mean I fake it? I almost died out there. You saw it yourself."

Getting too used to his abnormal presence, she continued enjoying her food and reading book at the small round table in the middle of the room like no one was around.

"Just by a single Genjustsu? I don't think so." He stated confidently and noticed her hand halted from moving to the next page for a short moment.

"Maybe, but the doctor had confirmed my poor condition earlier. Had she not?"

Nina turned her head to his direction, both her eyes and voices didn't waver when speaking those words.

"I'm sure she did..." His voice trailed off in half doubt. The info he had been provided with by the doctor this afternoon did prove that there were some cases around her age that could not handle such technique. And yet his instinct was telling him that these studies were not enough to convince him of what had happened today was true.

...

..

"Hm... What to do. Should I go straight home or visit some places first?" I stand up, trying to figure out where I should spend the day at. Konoha is quite small, to be honest, I don't think there's any place left that I haven't been to. And I don't feel like bothering Sakura or Naruto again on their day off.

Yesterday after departing with Sakura, I found myself bumped into team 10 at the very same street. Somehow Ino looked at me with studying eyes, Shikamaru just didn't give a damn and Choji was too intrigued by his food to bother.

After that I met with team 8 on my way back home. Shino's as quiet as I expected him to be. Kiba preferred playing with Akamaru to introducing himself. The only one left who actually cared enough to greet me back was Hinata. Probably because we already knew each other from last time...

Making friends sure is hard, even in this made-up world. I guess not everyone's being such a sunshine as Uzumaki Naruto.

Then there is Sasuke, a special case of anti-social, and I just happen to be in the same team with that kind of guy...

Yet what I'm seeing right now is still not the best of him. Just wait till he gets all sentimental and leaves the village to strengthen his bond with Naruto. That's where the fun part begins.

Despite all that, Sakura still stays so loyal to him until the very end is definitely an out of the world level of attachment that I cannot comprehend.

While diving deep in thoughts, a cart selling hot buns passes by where I sit. Its hot steam and delicious smell of newly baked buns just have to sneak into my noses. Causing my stomach to start growling.

 _Forget about him, what I need right now is food._

After mindlessly strolling around the crowded streets for hours. I decide to take a rest at the river bank near the usual training ground. Lying on the soft green grass and staring at the deep blue sky above, while enjoying to gentle the sound of bird chirping and water flowing nearby. _So peaceful, no wonder Naruto likes to chill at this place._

Half an hour later and I'm starting to get bored. _What now? I don't feel like going anywhere and doing anything at all. But I just can't stay here all day, can I?_

Somewhat is getting sleepy, I close my eyes with a thought of taking a short nap until a stinging sensation once again hits me at the back of my neck. For some odd reasons it has been occurring not too long after I left the Uchiha district this morning.

 _Again... I'm definitely being watched. But it's not Kakashi this time. Don't tell me...  
_

Figured that this unknown person is having no intention of revealing him/herself any time soon, I take a deep breath and stand up. Quickly reach to one of the Kunai hanging around my waist and aim it toward to the direction where I thought the stalker would be hiding. At a tree not too far away.

As I get into battle stance and ready to fight. My eyes widened once the figure jumps down from the tree branch is no one else but Uchiha's heir.

"Sasuke?" Releasing the tight grips from the weapon in my hand. I speak his name in half doubt as he casually walks to where I am standing, hands still in pockets.

Was that why he didn't chase after me earlier? Because he planned to study my actions from the dark? But what for? I could easily guess Kakashi's intentions for his doing but not this guy.

"Just a quick reminder, I don't trust an outsider like you." He states coldly before I can even say anything further. "So don't even think about pulling off those friendship or teammate bullcrap that Naruto has planted into your head on me."

I'm dumbfounded by his obvious fact for a short moment.

"You seriously didn't go all the way here just to to tell me these things, did you?"

The boy doesn't answer and I scratch the back of my head in defeat. _Jeeze, whatever._

Putting away the Kunai, I return to my resting spot to take a seat. Without forgetting to mock him for being such a failure of a stalker. "So... Did you have fun following me around? I bet your fan girls would die just for this to happen to them. Huh?"

He's way worse than Kakashi for this kind of job. Still, it's rather be him than someone else that I don't know of. Especially an enemy, like the ones from that strange lab in my own world.

Now that I think about it, If I could transport myself into Naruto's world through that goddamn device, wouldn't they can too? There's a possibility that they could have been here already and on their way of hunting me down..

"What was you searching for at the Uchiha's district? What are you trying to achieve?" Paying no mind to my question however, Sasuke begins interrogating and I instantly sense his menace aura slowly eating me up from behind. Despite staying yards apart from each other.

I see, he suspected that I might be a spy who came here to learn about his clan's secret.

"I was searching for my way back home, obviously. Didn't I already tell you about that?"

How troublesome. Getting so work up over something so uncalled for. I mean, who would even want anything coming from that deserted place anyway. Not in my case, at least.

"Are you expecting me to believe that lame excuse?" He frowns, definitely not buying a single word I've said. _Jeeze. If I knew he would be this persistent, I wouldn't have stayed._

"I don't care if you believe me or not. Because that's all of it." Frustrated that my peaceful moment is ruined by a overly paranoid teenage shinobi boy, I get up from my spot and attempt to leave. Unfortunately, Sasuke has figured out my plan and grabs my arm to stop me from escaping. "You're lying."

"Even if you're going to ask me thousand more times, the answer will still be the same."

I tried to yank my arm back from his tight grip but failed.

"You're not going anywhere until you spill out the truth."

This boy, he's starting to get on my nerve!

"Too bad for you then, playing tug of war with me here won't gain you anything."

I try to hit him with my other hand and legs to make him release me.

"There must be a way to make you talk."

Yet he's too fast and avoid every upcoming attack, while professionally maintaining his annoying grip on my arm.

"Talk, huh? What are you going to do, using Sharingan on me?"

Right after hearing my so not-on-purpose provocation, Sasuke suddenly turns dead quiet and my face slowly turns pale. _Wait, he's not actually considering it. Is he?_

"How did you know about Sharingan, who told you?" His tone makes it almost sound like he's threatening me.

Oh crap. I forgot that he only knew how to activate it recently. "Uhm.. Naruto told me about what happened at the Land of Wave. So..."

Sorry for dragging you into this, Naruto! I will treat you ramen later, I promise!

"A-Anyway, I'm just kidding, okay? Don't take it too serious." I try to back away from him, hands up in the air to show my defeat. It's not working however as he ignores the sign and gladly accepts my accidental challenge.

"But that's not quite a bad idea."

 _Curse me and my big mouth!_ If I'm not doing something now, I'll be dead! Think, Nina. Think!

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei, help! Sasuke is picking on me!"

I point at the spot right behind him, screaming in pain that is loud enough for him to turn his head back to check and unconsciously loosen his hand on me.

Only waiting for that, I push him away with full power and successfully retrieve my limb back. Then escape the area as fast as possible before he can react.

"Hey!"

 **Back to the main street**

Just as I thought, Sasuke's not going to give up that easily. Because only a couple of minutes later, he has already caught up with me despite taking all the shortcuts and sharp turns. Now he's bearing no sign of slowing down or whatsoever while I'm already out of breath. _Man..._ _I knew he's fast, but I didn't expect him to be this fast._

Just then Naruto, who happens to be taking his usual stroll on the street, see Sasuke is chasing after his new friend just a couple feet away and decide to tag along. "Hey! Are you guys playing tag?! Count me in too!"

 _Naruto!? Exactly someone I need!_ Almost burst into tears of joy as my knight in shining armor has appeared, I immediately call out for his aid. "Naruto! Can you hold him off for me?!"

"Why? Some kind of new rule?"

"Y-Yes! My life depends on you, okay?!"

"Sure! I'm on it, you know!"

Not wasting time, Naruto summons a bunch of clones and manages to stop Sasuke from going any further with a mountain of bodies.

"The fuck are you doing?!" Didn't expect Naruto to interrupt so suddenly and no plan for backup, Sasuke has no choice but to deal with his annoying teammate if he wants to move on. "You moron! Get off me!"

"You idiot! What are you doing to Sasuke-kun!" From afar, Sakura sees Naruto is messing with her crush and charges in full speed to help. Punching every single clone out of the way in a blink of an eye, including Naruto himself.

"Ouch, why are you hitting me." The boy whines when getting punched for no reason, holding his swelling head while Sasuke stands up from the ground, wiping the dust off his clothes. The two also not forgetting to share a deadly glare with each other. "I was just trying to help Nina-chan!"

"Stop lying! I saw you was bothering Sasuke-kun a while ago!"

"Huh? I thought he and Nina-chan were playing game?"

 _What?! Sasuke-kun and Nina-chan?!_ Sakura's heart skips a beat imagining those two being together, doing all the lovey-dovey couple stuff without her consent. However, her inner self refuses to believe that Sasuke would ever act that way. That's why she has to ask him to confirm. "Is that true, Sasuke-kun?!"

Much to Sakura's relief, the boy instantly dismisses the ridiculous idea. "Are you even sane?! No one is playing anything!"

After having a quick check around several corners and two side of the route. Sasuke clicks his tongue when finding no sight of that girl. _Tch, she's gone._

"Hey, Sasuke-kun. Wanna go somewhere together?" Since it's still noon, Sakura suggests the two of them to hang out and have lunch together. Completely ignores Naurto who is standing right behind, much to his distress. "What about me?!"

However Sasuke rejects her and walks off, quickly disappears into the crowd up ahead. "No thanks."

 **Nina's home.**

"I'm tired..." Lying flats onto the tatami, I sigh and take the headband off my forehead to seek for a little comfort. Though I would love to take a nice bath and gets out of this dirty clothes but my body is no longer listens to me.

To think that I would finally be able to enjoy some peaceful days in Konoha, not getting chased all over the place just like back in my hometown. And not to mention that the one I am running away from is a teammate of mine, it doesn't seem right no matter how much I look at it...

Even if he couldn't catch me today, I'm sure there's still more chances to come. At least for tomorrow mission, I will be safe since Kakashi's around. Hopefully.

While still thinking for a way to counter that Uchiha, I drifted into deep sleep and the moment I woke up, the sun has already set and I quickly packed things up into my package. Cook something fast for dinner and not forgetting to cross Uchiha's district out of my morning daily routine. _Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day, isn't it..._


	7. Chapter 7

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 7

* * *

 **Early in the morning**

Today's weather sure is suitable for traveling, warm and I can see the clear sky, sun ray here and there, a little bit windy but at least we're not expecting rain any time soon. Once having prepared everything, I put on my backpack and head to the village's gate. There, I find Naruto, along with Sakura and Sasuke are waiting by the trees, also carrying traveling backpacks on each of their shoulders.

"Nina-chan!" Both Sakura and Naruto greet me the moment I arrive to the appointed meeting spot. While Kakashi is still nowhere to be found.

"Let me guess, he'll be late again."

"You don't say."

Their expressions quickly turn bitter once I mention of our one of a kind teacher. And instead of going on rampaging and complaining like the other two, Sasuke's actually being comfortable in his own zone. Leaning onto ones of the tree nearby and staying dead quiet. But something in those horrifying dark orbs of his are telling me that I won't be able to escape from him this time for sure...

I shouldn't be worried too much, I'm sure he's not going to kill or torture me over something like this. Beside, it's not like that Uchiha would get me that easily even if he wants to. Not to mention that I still have Naruto and Sakura to back me up if anything goes wrong.

"Sorry, I ran over a cat and had to take it to the vet."

Finally, after like an hour, the white haired man appears right before us by using Shunshin no Jutsu (Teleport/Body Flicker technique) and greets us with his shameless smile as usual.

"Yeah, right!" Naruto and Sakura yell, Sasuke glares at him intensely and I can only sigh.

Ignore his students outrage, Kakashi tosses me the delivery package, our main objective for this journey, implying that I will be taking the role of keeping it safe till we reach to the destination. "Here."

 _Why would he let me/her keep the package? Is it some kind of another test?_

The same question arises when they watch Nina putting the important item (kind of) into her backpack, while Kakashi just smiles an innocent smile and urges us to move our feet. Despite being the one who caused us to be late to start the quest. "Alright now boys and girls, let's get moving! It would be unprofessional of us if we let our customer wait, would it not?"

"Right." We answer him in mono tone and everyone starts running, slowly forming into a team position. With Kakashi leading us up ahead, Naruto is right behind and then me, Sakura and Sasuke.

As we're passing through the tree branches, Naruto slow down to my pace and whispers to me. "Hey Nina-chan. Was it true that you and Sasuke weren't playing tag yesterday?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, we weren't." I answer him casually, soon our eyes meet and I notice that he's bearing quite a serious expression. Which is quite rare, since it only happens unless there's an opponent or something important. _I wonder what happened once I was gone yesterday. Did he get into a fight with Sasuke or something?_

"Then what made him chasing after you like that?" As they're talking, Naruto's gradually recalling to Sasuke's face at that time, since he's too intrigued with playing the tag game to bother with it until now.

Stoic and calculating, The Uchiha didn't look like he's having fun with a friend. It's more like he's going after an enemy.

"Well, uhm... You could say that he and I had some misunderstanding?" I avert my eyes away from him.

For some reasons whenever looking into those deep blue orbs, I can't seem to lie perfectly like I always do. Perhaps when we started acting like close friends, I had subconsciously lowering my guard down toward him.

After hearing my answer the boy frowns. Indicating that he doesn't believe in my words.

"Anyways, it's all in the past. We're all good now. No need to worry about it too much, okay?"

Therefore I lie, by assuring him that there is no longer war between me and the Uchiha boy in hope for Naruto not to do something reckless.

"If you say so..."

Fortunately after hearing so his expression soften up, much to my relief. _Thanks god that it works, because the last thing I want is having our teammates fight each other in the middle of my very first mission._

Sensing someone is glaring at him, Sasuke turns to that direction and sees Naruto sticks his tongue out at him the moment their eyes meet. Annoyed by his teammate playful attitude, he frowns but decides to let it go. _What's with that moron?_

Hmph! I bet bastard was bullying Nina-chan! Man, and here I thought that he had actually taken Kakashi's words seriously and started being nice to her. If only had I knew much sooner, I would have done more than just simply burying him with clones, you know!

Naruto cringes his teeth at the thought as it reminds him of the time he's still at academy, helpless and weak. Without having anyone but Iruka to accept him. _From now on, I won't let anything like that ever happens to her again!_

A moment later and Kakashi suggests us to take a break and have lunch at a vacant space on the way. Once arrive, everyone quickly finds a comfortable spot for themselves to enjoy food or drink that they have prepared inside their backpacks.

 _Noon already, huh? Time sure flies when you don't pay attention to it._ While looking for the bento box inside my backpack, I come across the package that Kakashi has given me this morning. Staring at it, I let out a sigh. _It's only a D rank mission. I should be fine, right?_

"Sasuke-kun, here. Have one!" Sakura happily shares her home cooking with Sasuke as they sit next to each other under a tree. While Naruto's left behind sitting in the middle of the area, watching them with a cup of noodle in his hand and me, well, Omurice. Kakashi's probably somewhere up on one of the branches reading Icha Icha tactics.

After an hour of resting, we continue our journey until the sun is set.

"How much farther until we get to the village?" Asked Naruto when everyone gathers in the middle of the area.

"We should be arriving there in the morning."

Kakashi answers then orders each one of us to get prepared to spend the night in the woods. Naruto collects rocks on the ground for the campfire while I search for some dry branches around the area. Sasuke will go catch some fish at the stream not too far away and expecting to have Sakura coming along since her task is to collect water.

Despite Naruto's protest to go with me, I assured him that I would be safe alone without having Sasuke breathing down my neck since Sakura's there to keep him company. But oh how wrong I was...

Hearing the unnatural sound of snapped tree branches behind me, I spin around and behold. The unwelcome Uchiha Sasuke.

And I don't see any net or fish in his hands. Both of his shoes and clothes are quite clean, bearing no sign of having contacted with water or whatsoever. _Did he really go fishing or just outright ditching his job?_

"I didn't expect you to hunt that fast." Trying my best to stay calm, I say. Holding the branches closer into my arms as I watch him getting closer for every step.

"Neither Naruto nor Sakura could have possibly known that I activated Sharingan back at the Land of Waves. Because Naruto was unconscious and Sakura wasn't there. So there's no way you could have learnt the story through those two. And Kakashi's also out of the question..."

My eyes widened and I almost gasp out loud by the info he's shared. _Oh crap! I missed out that part in panic cause of his threatening using the Sharingan._

"Speak, who are you and how much do you know about us."

This is bad, I have to find a way to get out of this or at least drive him away from that idea. "Are you going to assume that I'm a spy just simply because you caught me one time watching sunrise near your home?"

Sasuke stares at me for a short moment before answering. "Not just once, I had seen you wandering around Uchiha district early in the morning for several times already."

Good, he caught the bait. Or so I thought that he did, whether on purpose or not.

"And you didn't think that I was only trying to do something's called exercising?" Therefore I try to reason with him, hoping that some of it will get into that thick skull of his.

"I call it observation." Yet Sasuke's just too stubborn to apprehend.

"You're not making any sense." I shake my head in defeat.

"And you could have picked another path to work with your so called *exercising*, there's no reason for you to have to be there. Unless..."

He's not wrong, sadly. If only had I known that Sasuke could be such a bother like he was right then, I would have never set my feet into that goddamned place.

"Well excuse me for not finding any banner or anything lying around to inform myself that it's restricted."

Perhaps if I can keep the conversation long enough, Naruto would notice our abnormal absences and starts searching. There's a good chance that he's on his way right now.

"Enough beating around the bush and spit it out already, who are you working for!"

However Sasuke's gotten impatience, and that is not longer a question but a demand as I notice he's reaching for the Kunai sitting inside his Shinobi's pocket. _I suppose my tactics didn't last very long with him._

If Sasuke somehow receives a wild vision that I'm related to the people who murdered his entire clan, especially Itachi, things won't end up nicely like last time. _I can sense Kakashi's nearby but he doesn't show any sign of interfering. Great, I bet that damned crow is enjoying this._

Taking the chance that Sasuke's unguarded. I throw a bunch of dry branches into his face to distract him and attempt to escape. _Our campfire is quite close, it won't take much time to get there._

"Running again, are we? But not this time!" Figured this would happen, Sasuke has prepared his tool, a rope dart, and quickly aims for my legs. Successfully causing me to trip and fall onto the ground.

"Ouch..." Pain hits me hard since I fall flat on my face but luckily my noses doesn't break. Frustrated and hurt, I just lay there and remain silent as Sasuke approaches with a victory smirk on his face.

"Well? Feel like talking yet? Pretending to faint is useless."

Doesn't receive any response, Sasuke squats down next to me and puts the Kunai's blade up to my neck. And I can see it in his eyes, which are cold and deadly, that he would split my throat in any second without hesitation. "Hurry up while I'm still being nice."

"What's with this change of mind? Not going to use Sharingan on me anymore?"

Show me what you've got. I've been through much worse than this little threat of yours.

"Using my power is a waste on the likes of you." He replies calmly, and I can sense a tin of mockery in his tone.

 _*The likes of me* huh? How I wish that I could beat him to a pulp right now._ I cringe my teeth at his insult. If that pretty face is a little bit closer, he would have eaten some nice fists.

No! I can't do that, not good, I have to calm down. No matter how much I want to kick his ass, I have to solve this conflict in peace, not violence. _We are suppose to be allies, not enemies. Goddamn it._

Guess there's no choice but to drag that guy into this, since he's the only one who can get me out of this mess without causing any damage. "Kakashi-sensei, you are here. Aren't you?"

"This trick again? Don't you think that it's getting old already?" Sasuke frowns, pressing the sharp blade closer to my skin and leaves a cut, starting to draw blood.

 _Great, this idiotic hasn't realized that his ex-anbu of a teacher's been here all this time watching his melodrama._ Paying no mind to the Uchiha, I continue calling out to him. "Sensei! If you're not coming out, I'm going to tell the Third Hokage that you're mistreating me when we get back!"

Kakashi definitely won't risk having me killed right here, by one of his students no less, since he hasn't gained any proper info about me yet. He's probably waiting to see how I'd act in this kind of situation. And too bad for him, I'm already out of ideas.

"Alright, alright. I'm here." And just as I thought, the white haired man appears right before us soon after. Much to Sasuke's surprise. And thanks to Kakashi's cold blank stare, the boy finally releases my neck from the Kunai's blade and stands up.

"Say something to that thick head, will you?" I ask him, trying to get up as well but failed.

"Hmm... What can I say..." Closing the book in his hand, Kakashi scratches the back of his head and acts like he's lost in the middle of conversation. Despite having watched everything from the start.

"Tell Sasuke to stop being paranoid! What else?!" I nag him to be serious, while struggling to get the damn rope off my legs.

Ever since I arrived to Konoha, Kakashi has been following and studying my actions, background way more than Sasuke does. That's why I'm quite confident that he understands me much better than that brat.

"Well?" Sasuke stands there, waiting for his teacher's explanation patiently.

"She's right, Sasuke. I'm sure everything is just a misunderstanding. You can trust me, Nina is not a spy." Kakashi smiles and tries to calm the fuming Uchiha before him.

 _Yeah, that's right. I've definitely got nothing to do with that cursed clan of his. As if I hasn't know everything about it already._ After successfully free myself from being captured, I hide behind Kakashi for some aids.

"And what makes you think I will believe that?" Sasuke snarls, hands still holding the Kunai firmly and looks as if he would jump in to stab me in any second.

"Then do you have any proof to prove that I'm a spy?" I chime in, ignoring his intense glare.

"You still haven't answered me how you know what happened at Land of Wave."

"I told her." Kakashi explains casually, surprising all of us. "Right, Nina?"

His eye glances at me and I immediately nod like no tomorrow. "Y-Yeah! I begged him to tell me about you guys prior missions since I was too anxious for my first!"

"Yup! And I couldn't resist those puppy eyes of hers." He adds to make it sounds more convincing.

Not buying our words easily, Sasuke asks me. "Really, then why did you lie about hearing this from Naruto?"

"Because Kakashi-sensei asked me not to tell anyone that it's him who told me that." Lying through my teeth, I reply without a second of holding back. "Right, sensei?"

It's not until seeing Kakashi nods to me in return, Sasuke's able to calm down and stops showing killing intent toward me. In the end, the argument has been settled in peace between us, or so I hope that it is thanks to his obvious expression of saying *I will trust you, for now* to me and Kakashi.

As it's getting late, Kakashi urges us to return to our spot to eat and rest for tomorrow trip. Therefore both I and Sasuke oblige, and while on our way back. Kakashi hands me his handkerchief with a bit of remedies lying inside. "Here."

"What are they for?"

A little confused but I take it anyway.

"To cover that wound."

He says, pointing at a specific area around my neck.

Oh right, I totally forgot about it due to all the chaos just now. If Naruto sees it, he's going to make a big fuss for sure.

Quickly, I use the handkerchief to wipe away the blood on my skin and remedies to heal. And once we get back to our campfire, my wound's been healed completely and nothing on me is showing sign of having gone through an assault.

"What took you so long!?" Worried, Naruto approaches me to ask.

Tired of waiting, Naruto had to collect the dry woods himself to start the fire. And Sakura had to catch the fish for our dinner due to someone who was suppose to do that job had ran away.

"I got a bit lost." I explain as we approach the campfire. "It's quite dark out there, you see."

"Sasuke-kun! You suddenly left when we're heading to the river, what happened?! where did you go?!"

Sakura sticks close to Sasuke the moment she sees him, but the boy ignores her and takes a seat near the campfire. She then follows and sits next to him, offering a cooked fish but he rejects her completely. She soon turns silent and eats the food by herself, a little bit disheartened.

 _Jeeze what's with him acting so emo for? Wasn't he the one who threatened and almost wanted to kill me just now?_ I watch the odd couples from afar in confusion while enjoying delicious grilled fish with Naruto.

Sasuke volunteered to take the night shift, despite Kakashi's saying that it's not necessary. Naturo's annoyed that the boy's acting all so tough. Sakura's worried for his health since he didn't have anything for dinner. In my case, I just didn't care because from now on he wouldn't be having anymore excuse to bother me and slept through the night peacefully.


	8. Chapter 8

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 8

* * *

 **Next morning**

"Kakashi-sensei."

Once finish getting ready for the trip, I approach the white haired man who is reading his book by the tree.

"Hmm?"

His eye's attention changes from the papers to me.

"Well, uhm... Thanks, for helping me."

Despite knowing that his assist would definitely not come for free, I figured that it'd still better to express my appreciation than staying silent.

Therefore Kakashi smiles and gestures his hand to me as if saying *You're welcome*, though I'm pretty sure that it can also be read as *You still owed me an explanation*.

When Naruto's packing his stuff into the backpack, Sasuke stops by his spot and speaks in volume that only enough for both of them to hear.

"That Nina girl... you better not get too close to her, Naruto. She may not be the person who you think she is."

Puzzled by his out of the blue statement, Naruto asks again since he has yet to caught up with the Uchiha's complicated thinking. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Just a warning." However Sasuke refuses to give him anymore detail and walks away, much to his distress. "Hey!"

 _That bastard, what was that all about!_ Naruto cringes and continue packaging, yet for some reasons he cannot get Sasuke's words out of his head. _I wonder what exactly he was trying to tell me._

Subconsciously, his gaze shifts to the girl in short orange kimono who is talking with their teacher not too far away. And they both seem to be in good mood toward to each other that he doubt there's really anything serious happened last night.

Notice that Naruto's been staring at his package for a while now, I approach and pat him in the shoulders to wake the boy up from his long daydreaming. "What's wrong, Naruto? Hurry and pack things up or we'll leave you behind."

He seems unfazed and turns around, looking deep into my eyes.

"Nina-chan. You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"

..

...

"I'm going to look for them."

Naruto declared for the nth times and stood up, attempting to leave but Sakura quickly stopped him from breaking what's left of the team.

"Alone in the middle of the woods, at night. Are you an idiot?"

Both Naruto and Sakura gathered at their camping spot after finishing their duties long ago, waiting for their missing teammates and teacher to return.

Sakura had been telling herself that she had to stay calm and believed in their teacher in this situation. Still, the girl couldn't hide the anxiousness on her face. The moment she noticed that Sasuke had disappeared without a trace, she dashed back to their old spot to report to Kakashi.

By then, she found out that Nina had also gone missing by the look on Naruto's face. As he said that she had went off on her own to gather some woods for a while now and still not coming back.

Therefore Kakashi agreed to go look for the two Genins by himself and told them both to stay put to keep everyone's belongings. So now here they are, sitting in the middle of the area watching burning fire. Utterly clueless and helpless.

"Say, Sakura-chan. Don't you think Sasuke has been acting weird lately?"

Could no longer keeping it to himself, Naruto asked her about his friend's odd actions.

"Weird? Like what?"

Sakura stopped drawing illegible scribbles on the ground the moment her crush was mentioned.

"Yeah, like, bullying people. You know."

 _Sasuke-kun? I can somewhat understand his feeling at the moment but for him to be a bully? I don't think so._ Because Sakura's certain that Sasuke wouldn't bother himself doing those kind of stuff, whether on his free time or not. _I mean, his mind was only filled with training and getting stronger nowadays..._

Sakura started to wonder what had caused Naruto to jump into such a strange conclusion. "Why would you think so? What happened?"

Getting curious that her teammate perhaps had known something about the Uchiha that she didn't. Sakura urged him to talk but the boy refused to do so. Instead, he kept asking for her opinion about his theory earlier.

"There's no way Sasuke-kun would such a thing." Therefore Sakura stated confidently, and surprisingly, Naruto's expression lighten up. Even if only for a little but it's enough for her to figure out there's definitely something going on between them behind her back.

"Yeah, I wouldn't believe that either."

He responded and smiled to her softly, as if just being one hundred percent assured that his best friend wouldn't have become one of those kind of people that he hates most.

"Jeeze, Naruto. You're seriously not making any sense right now, you know that?"

Naruto grinned at her sarcastic question and returned to his normal up beat personality. Leaving Sakura slowly getting drowned by her own confusions.

What was Naruto trying to imply just now? Why was she having such a complex feeling about this? And since Naruto didn't want to talk, should she ask Sasuke instead when he return?

However at the end of the day, Sakura still couldn't bring herself to ask him and had to wait for another chance to come to do so.

...

..

And I almost choke on my own breath.

"Never!" I respond immediately, almost yelling into his face and heart starts racing by seconds. _Don't tell me he has noticed something abnormal? But why? And how? I was quite sure that I had..._

No, I have to calm down or I'm sure as hell going to mess it up. Based on the manga and anime, If I remember correctly, Naruto's kid-self is still too much of an airhead to figure out anything that is far more complex than Ramen, ideal friendship and Shinobi's trainings.

Well then, I know exactly where to strike.

"You are my close friend, Naruto. There's no way in hell I would ever lie or do anything to hurt you or your feelings. I'm sure you've realized that by now, right?"

Despite my sincere words, the uncertainty has yet to leave the boy's face.

"Are you doubting me, Naruto?"

Therefore I ask him, adding a suitable amount of disappointment in my voice and expression to make myself seems more convincing.

"No! Of course not. I believe Nina-chan, you know!"

Naruto shakes his head, strongly declares his trust on our pure friendship.

 _Good, he's back to normal now._ I've got to thanks the author for making him too easy to read and persuadable sometimes.

Figure that lengthening this conversation would bring nothing but danger, I urge him to get moving to catch up with the others and Naruto's gladly to follow.

A couple of hours later, we finally reach to the Sunshine's village gate and the first thing catches my noses is the faint scent of blood.

Confused, I turn to Kakashi, then Naruto and the other two to look for some clarifications. Yet they all seem to act like there's nothing wrong. _It can't be just me, can it?_

As we get into residential area, the atmosphere is somewhat similar to any other normal village. Clean street, crowded market and everyone's here working on their jobs like any other usual day. Showing no sign of assault or abnormal activities. And for some reasons the scent of blood from earlier has also disappeared.

Soon team 7 reaches to the leader house, which is quite big for a Traditional Japanese house, I take the delivery package out of my backpack to prove to the workers that we're the expected visitors. After finished explaining, we're lead further inside to the guest room and there. A man in his 40s, straight long black hair, wearing a green fancy kimono shows up to greet us with open arms.

"Welcome, Shinobi of Konohagakure. I've been waiting for you!" Judging by his attire, he should be the leader of this village and the owner of this household, who is called Kazuhiro if I remember correctly.

"Kazuhiro-san." Kakashi greets him with a slight bow and the man does the same to him in return.

After a short introduction and confirmation about the quest info between the two, Kazuhiro then notices the parcel box in my hands and reaches for it.

"Oh, this must be the delivery package that I've asked for. Thank you so much!"

"Not so fast." However Kakashi stops him. "We're still not yet certain that it's you who wrote this commission."

"What ever do you mean, it's saying right here that Kazuhiro is the one who bought Konoha shinobi's service for that package, isn't it?" The man shows us a wrinkled brown paper in his hand that filled with words and a signature of the village leader at the bottom.

"Yes, it's true that Kazuhiro has hired us for this job. However, you're not him."

Kakashi explains, his penetrating blank stare is causing the man to feel uncomfortable.

"Do you even realize what you are saying right now!?" The self-claimed Kazuhiro protests.

After looking at each other, the team 7 then shows him the result of their investigation this morning.

Therefore Sasuke starts first. "There were no sight of children or their activities around this area."

"The market's too clean at such a busy time of the day. Seriously, not even a single cattle around? Just who are you trying to fool." Sakura states confidently.

Naruto steps in. "I sensed your subordinate were following us on the street, even right now inside this house. And they're definitely suck at hiding their killing intent, you know."

"The scent of blood at the village's gate." I speak, recalling to the nasty smell that hit my noses back then.

If our calculation is right, everyone here is already dead and these bandits are in the middle of to disposing the villager bodies at the river bank nearby. While preparing for our arrival.

"Or based on this." Kakashi simply shows us the picture of Kazuhiro which we have never seen or heard of before setting off onto the journey. And by the look on our teacher's annoying face, we can tell that the reason for his doing is something along the line of - testing our observation skills...

The man looks stunned by our performances for a short moment before bursting into laughter. He stops trying to deny or clear his identity. Instead, clapping his hands as if just having watched an entertaining play. "Impressive. I didn't expect for be exposed that easily by a bunch of kids."

"Yeah! Can't look down on us now, can you!" Naruto chimes in.

"Hold on, if you're all here waiting for a single package, does that mean..." Getting an uneasy feeling, I hold the parcel box closer into my arms as we're getting surrounded and downright outnumbered.

There are at least 15 guys here and I still haven't counted the ones outside. Not a surprise since place has been flooded with bandits since the beginning.

"Yes, that casual looking thing is actually contains a valuable piece of hand crafted jewelry for the dead old man's daughter upcoming wedding." Ignoring Naruto's never lasting blabbering, the man in fancy Kimono answers. "He's such a cheapskate to hire you low rank shinobi and put that inside a parcel box just to fool people."

 _Or it could also be a big surprise when it arrived to his daughter, we would never know._ I gulp at the menace aura that he and the others are showing. Should I reach for the Kunai on my leg for defense or for the backpack first? Will I have time for both?

"Get ready, everyone." Kakashi orders and the rest of team 7 quickly change into their fighting stance for the battle. Naruto's excited for the big fight, Sasuke smirks at his new found challenge. Sakura is not fazed by the large amount of enemies and I, well, obviously have not prepare enough in both physically and mentally for this.

In a blink of an eye, the bandits jump at us all at once with various type of tools in their hands. Kakashi aims for the tough ones to eliminate while Sasuke and Naruto go for the average looking ones. Sakura and I are in the role of support and keeping the package safe.

"I'll protect you!" Naruto summons multiples of his clones, using more than half to fight with him and leaving rest in the back line to keep me and Sakura safe.

"I can fight too, Shannaro!" Not going to be left behind by her teammates that easily, Sakura engages in battle against enemies with the help of several Naruto's clones. Meanwhile I'm still struggling to get the parcel box inside my backpack due to constantly dodging their attacks and countering them with only one free hand.

During the middle of chaos, however, some of them have managed to sneak into our team position and gets a hold of Sakura from behind. And her surprise yelp has gained all of our attentions.

"Sakura, duck!" Quickly I try to rescue Sakura by throwing several Shuriken toward to her attackers. Only waiting for that to happen, one of the bandits dashes to my side and easily snatches the box out of my hand. _Oh no! The package!_

 _I can't let them get away!_ Afraid that I will lose sight of the thieves, I abandon our team position to chase after them before Kakashi has the time to protest.

And it's not until getting deep into the woods that I finally be able to catch up with them. Only to realize having made a grave mistake by setting my feet into right their territory, which is full of deadly trap and ambush, alone.

"What do we have here. It's the little girl from that shinobi's family earlier." The bandit from earlier, along with his subordinates, appears before me and snickers. Tossing the package up and down in his hand and acting like his gang has already won the battle. Even though more than half of his men are having their asses handed to them at the village leader's house the moment we speak.

Holding tight onto the Kunai in my hand. I step a few step back to calculate my safe zone and prepare for combat. Only end up looking more like a joke to them.

"I say we capture this girl and sell her to the slavery market."

One of the bandits suggests his brilliant idea and the others laugh, seem to be in agreement with him.

"Let's use that paralyze method, it's the easiest and quickest."

Now several blowguns can be seen in their hands and they're all aiming at me.

 _Never mind that necklace, I need to get out here alive first._ Easier said than done, there are too many of them and I'm still inexperienced in dealing with several enemies at once.

Not wasting time, I backtrack my steps and try to open up a clear path through enemy's bodies, while trying not to get hit by the paralysis needles on the way. Still, my effort alone is clearly not enough when more and more of them just keep coming. Almost entirely blocking my escape route.

And those bastards enjoy their moment mocking at my futile struggle by playing around with my amateur shinobi skill. The way their eyes look at me feels as if watching a cornered, helpless animal which is about to get killed. "Give it up, kid. This is the end."

 _Not until I drag every single one of you down to hell with me._

Eyes close and take a deep breath, I toss the Kunai away and reach for the double daggers hanging around my waist. Changing into a much more suitable battle stance and preparing to initiate my final resort.

However before being able to draw out those blades, I hear shouting and people getting knocked out from behind and turn around. Eyes widened in surprise once seeing that it's Sasuke who has arrived to the scene.

"No need to get all so excited for. I wasn't here just to provide aids."

Is he for real? And here I thought that Sasuke was actually cared for me as a teammate for once. But I guess that's too much to ask from the Uchiha. "And just for how long are you intending play this detective game again?"

"Until I rip off that fake mask of yours and find out what you're truly hiding." Pulling his Kunai out of the bandit's body, Sasuke declares to stick with his so almighty duty, which no one has ever asked for, till the very end.

 _Right, of course you totally would. Who am I even kidding._ Shooting him an irritated look, I reach for another Kunai in my pocket since the last one has been kicked off somewhere. While Sasuke approaches to where I'm standing.

"Looks like we've got company." One of the bandits says and gestures his men to gather before us. "Doesn't matter, because you all are going to die here."

Gladly accept their warm welcome, Sasuke steps forward and I notice that his Sharigan has been activated. "We'll see about that."


	9. Chapter 9

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 9

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei! Nina-chan's run after the stolen package!"

Sakura informed everyone about their situation as soon as she saw her other female teammate ran off on her own. Since it happened too fast, she couldn't react in time to stop her.

Worried for his teammate's safety, Naruto attempted to follow but Sasuke had another idea.

"I'll go get her. You stay here and finish the rest."

After reasoning with them shortly about him getting the job done much faster and efficient than Naruto with his abilities. Kakashi then agreed to have Sasuke seek for their missing teammate by himself. Only waiting for that, Sasuke dashed up ahead, out of the main door and jumped onto one of the house's roofs. Quickly disappeared out of sight.

Soon, Sasuke pinpointed hers, along with the package's location, which was in the middle of the forest not too far away. Yet instead of charging in immediately, he decided to stay behind in the shadow to observe the situation.

It seemed that the girl had gotten herself into a fire ant nest. It had everything here from tough ones to average, and even weaklings, trap were set all over to keep this place secured. There were some bastards lurking inside the bushes and up on branches, carrying blow guns contained paralysis needles. However something big was missing, the queen.

 _Almost every gang consists of one_ _leader, and we haven't met him/her yet._

That fake Kazuhiro from earlier definitely wasn't since he's the first to die under Sasuke's blade. While the others were simply too weak and dumb to be considered as one.

While wasting time listening through several rounds of pointless chatting, watching them playing around with weapons here and there. Sasuke somewhat had a deeper look into Nina's potential. She had no knowledge of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, no hidden Kekkei Genkai, her chakra flow was normal, if not, weak. Average level in Tatjutsu and Shurikenjutsu.

Soon Nina began to show some signs of exhaustion, as her movements were getting slower and less accurate than usual. And what's next to come was already too clear, the girl's being cornered.

Well, at least for now he's assured that Nina wasn't one of them. Figured that it's time for some action, Sasuke slowly stepped out of his hiding. However his feet were halted the moment seeing Nina threw away Kunai and reached for twins daggers hanging on her waist.

 _Nina's gesture changed and so did the air around her. What's going on?_

Trying to get a clearer view, Sasuke took a few step forward out of the safe zone. Only to end up being seen by one of the men standing guard nearby.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!"

The bandit quickly aimed his blowgun at him, about to shoot before getting knocked out cold in the head by Sasuke's kick. His body dropped onto the floor had caused unnecessary noises that instantly alerted everyone around him.

Now that he's been found out, Sasuke has no choice but to reveal himself before them. Acting naturally as if having just arrived. He also notices that Nina's happy to see him, too much to make him almost feels bad for accusing her to be one of the bandit members, almost.

But it still doesn't change the fact that he does not trust her, even for one bit.

"No need to get all so excited for. I wasn't here just to provide aids."

* * *

Battle starts and Sasuke rampages his way through multiple opponents at once. Using mostly everything he's got till now in order to gain the crowd control, Shurikenjutsu, Tatjutsu, Ninjutsu - Fire release, plus the infamous Dojutsu - Sharingan.

 _But why do I have a feeling that Sasuke's still holding back?_ Trying to be helpful as much as possible, I aim for whoever is left behind or standing out of his sight and knock them out before they can initiate any ambush.

It's not until more than half of these men have fallen that I realize the Uchiha's true intention. He's saving his energy for the big boss.

And just as we've expected, a group of people who covers themselves with brown mantles is now coming close to our spot from afar. Quickly, I approach Sasuke to inform him. "Sasuke, look, over there!"

Once arrived, the man in front takes off his cover and greets us all with a smirk.

"What's this? I've only gone for a little bit and you peeps have already caused a big fuss."

A middle aged man in simple black clothes, sunburned skin, black hair up pulled into a pun behind his head and a scar on his forehead. Who just happens to bring more troops alongside him that doesn't seem as amateur as the ones we've been fighting against up to this moment.

Seeing a big sack full of valuable items inside his hand, I figure that these people just have finished their daily robbery and are on their way back to the hideout.

"B-Boss!"

Judging by their attitudes, this guy must be their true leader.

"You fucked up big this time, didn't ya?"

Saving the long talk, this man jumps straight into the point and none of them has the courage to answer or look at him in the eyes.

"And y'all telling me that these little kids are at fault."

The man points his finger at us. Despite having only a quarter of his men left alive, he doesn't seem to faze. It's as if their life and effort are nothing to him to begin with.

"So, the big one's finally shown up."

Stepping onto one of the bandit's bodies lying under, Sasuke speaks. As if challenging the man himself.

"Kibutsuji, you brats must be shinobi, huh?" Staring at several Shinobi tools lying in our hands, the man called Kibutsuji cringes his teeth in disgust and unsheathes something looks like a Chinese sabre which is being tied behind his back.

"Troublesome, the likes of you, always butting into other people's business."

Let's see... There are only six, plus the leader, is seven in total. If I'm somehow be able to distract some of them out of the way, Sasuke may be able to have time to get rid all of them one by one. After the obstacle are gotten rid of, we can join force to eliminate Kibutsuji.

While I'm still trying to figure out the best way to deal with this elite of a bandit team, Sasuke suddenly charges at me in full speed and the next thing I know, we're both kneeling on the ground in pain and having him yelling at me for not paying attention.

"Hey! Do you even realize what kind of situation we're in?! Get a hold of yourself and do something!"

"I'm sorry, sorry!" I apologize and quickly get up from my spot, eyes widened in shock by sight of paralysis needles on his right leg's and arm's skin.

 _I caused this to happen, If only had I not being too careless back then..._

Perhaps has figured out what's running inside my head, Sasuke gestures his hand toward me to not worry about it too much, also try to act as normal as possible and not to alert the enemy about his condition.

Then Kibutsuji begins charging at us with a sabre in his hand, along with his subordinates.

No time for a plan or whatsoever, I dash forward and jumps up, launches my kick onto the first body and fling several Shuriken to the second to stun them. However they easily counter both of my attacks in a mere of second.

Yup, they're much difficult to dispose than the last ones for sure.

And instead of going two or even three, of whom I have successfully gained attention to, against one. Two of them suddenly abandon the fight and join the others in attempt of bringing Sasuke down, as if having realized that he's the real threat in this uneven battle.

Without a choice, I have to remain fighting this one if I want to get there to help him. By the time I manage to defeat the opponent, by only using simple Tatjutsu and a little bit of luck, Sasuke has already taken down two but seems to be out of breath.

 _Alright, time for some sneak attack._ With that in mind, I dash up to the one standing furthest from the group and hold the bandit's limbs from behind.

Quickly catching up, Sasuke deals a blow right through his heart and kills him in instant.

 _That means three are down, three left to go before the final boss._

It's still too soon to celebrate however as there are like five of them non elite bandits who are alive from the last fight. They haven't made any strange movements up till now, but I'm sure they are waiting for their chances to stab our backs if we carelessly loosen our guard for a second.

As both of us are fighting against those four, Kibutsuji is the one giving us the most difficult time to deal with since his actions are quite unpredictable. Sometimes the man strikes mindlessly, sometimes he just stays behind his subordinates and aims for our weak points.

And right now is also not an exception, he stops attacking and keeps watching at Sasuke intensely. Until I notice him doing a specific body movement that looks like he's about throw his sabre at Sasuke, I shout to alert him.

"Sasuke! There's a blade flying toward you!"

Yet when the sabre is getting too close to him already, Sasuke still not showing any sign of dodging. Don't tell me... _That paralysis poison has gotten into him!?_

Since I don't trust my own strength to be able to snap that blade into two. That's why the only option left for me is to push Sasuke out of the way to save his life. And the price I have to pay for my action is a full blow through my left shoulder.

"You idiot! What did you shield me for?" Sasuke scolds me for my recklessness as I cough up blood, pulling the damned blade out of my limb since it's too heavy to move around with it. _Damn, that hurt like hell. Let's just hope that I won't be bleeding myself to death before reaching back to Konoha._

"Never mind that, Stay focus or we'll get hit by needles again."

Cringing my teeth to fight off the sharp pain, I borrow Sasuke's free arm in order to stand up straight. Not forgetting to give him the sabre to hold so that Kibutsuji won't have his weapon to use against us.

"Stay back, you won't be able to fight anyone in that state."

Sasuke pushes me to stand behind him so I can take a breather. By now his Sharingan has been deactivated in order to save some energy.

"And just who are you to talk?"

I point at his trembling legs, which are deeply infected by the poison. Amazed by his strong will to act tough and keeps on battling despite being in a horrible condition.

Soon, more than half of my torso has drenched in red liquid and completely ruins the beautiful Kimono that Kasumi has given me for my birthday. _I'm sure hell would break loose if Kasumi saw me in this pathetic state._

"Play time's over, kids." Kibutsuji approaches us, that annoying smirk of his still has yet to fade ever since we encounter him.

"Couldn't agree more." Sasuke responds, trying not to sound too shaking and shifts his gaze to me. Indicating that we cannot lengthen this battle any longer. And he wants me to leave him here to deal with the bandits while I run for my life and get help from the others.

Of course, I will never agree with such suicidal plan of his. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You will only be a nuisance if staying here."

The Uchiha's heir states, quite harsh of him but I have to admit that he's right.

"Yes, but ..."

Still, I try to reason with him why it's not a good idea yet he cuts me off.

"I'm not going to die that easily."

What's with him acting so heroic all of the sudden.

"And you're expecting that I will to be able to get out safely? They wanted to sell me to the slavery market, remember?"

I smack him out of his fantasy by pointing at the big hole on left my shoulder, trying to tell that stubborn head that there's no way I can outrun anyone here with this kind of injury. Not to mention there's still traps being set all over the place, god knows if I would fall into one of them and die before getting back to our team.

"I'm pretty much stuck here with you, Sasuke. Whether you want it or not."

At least that sabre earlier didn't go through my shoulder's bone or else I won't be all happy-go-lucky as I am right now.

"Then try not to get in my way." Is his answer before pulling all his strength to charge forward, right into the middle of the group up ahead and use the sabre to land his first attack onto Kibutsuji. But that reckless action only end up causing his chakra to drain faster, which also means having the poison effect to get worsen.

At result, Sasuke's actions become slower and he begins to get hit more frequently. And the one who is dealing the most damage would be, of course, Kibutsuji.

Therefore I try to throw a smoke bomb into that group to help Sasuke escape. And he manages to get out of there alive but they refuse to give up on him that easily. Kibutsuji orders every last one of his men, including the ones who are watching my back, to get out of their covers and focus on Sasuke. Blocking his path and stop him from moving any further.

"Everyone, on the count of three." Kibutsuji gesture his hands toward the subordinates to wait for his signal, when it's down to zero they will all jump in and strike, to get rid of Sasuke once and for all.

"Sasuke, watch out!" Cannot stand outside watching any longer, I attempt to charge in to aid him but Sasuke stops me in mid-way. "You stay out of this!"

Just what the hell is he thinking! If I don't help him now, Sasuke will die! There is no choice left, there is no time left. I know that I'm not allowed to do it but I have to, I have to stop them!

 _Ryu nii-sama..._ _ _I'm sorry,_ it looks like I won't be able to keep our promise, after all..._

* * *

Sasuke tightens his grip on the sabre in his hand, waiting patiently for the big counter.

 _Come at me, you trashes. This shall be the memory that haunts all of you till death to never underestimate the Uchiha, ever again._

However, before any one those bandits can reach to him, they're all suddenly being tear apart into pieces and drop onto the floor in front of him. Blood and screaming scatter everywhere.

It was too fast that he still couldn't see who or what was the reason behind it.

 _What... Just happened?_

It's not until Sasuke's able to distinguish reality from illusion to realizes the only one left standing with him is Nina, still in a drenched kimono and the butterfly pin has almost fallen off her messy hair, holding tight onto the bloody twin daggers in her hand. While her body's burning in some kind of red colored chakra(?) he has never seen before.

Those topaz colored eyes are no longer fill with warmness and enthusiastic that he's been familiar with, they are now nothing but cold and deadly.

"What are you?"

He asks but there's no answer, Nina only stares blankly at him shortly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Putting the twin daggers back into its cover and that strange aura is gradually fading away.

"What the fuck was that?"

He asks her again, but Nina averts his eyes and suddenly takes a few steps forward. A gust of cold air, which is the same with the one he sensed earlier, lashes all over his body. Causing Sasuke's muscles to twitch and he flops down onto the floor.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?"

She approaches and squats down beside him. After making sure that there's no menace coming from her, Sasuke's able to relax his mind for a little.

"Here, I still have some left from last night."

Despite being in worse condition, she still comes for him first and that makes his teeth cringes. He's deeply irritated by the fake kindness Nina's showing, checking the cuts on his skin and offering him the remedies that Kakashi has given her to help him heal his wounds. Acting as if nothing has happened.

Not to mention this newfound attitude of hers - being cool all over the top- is starting to get on his nerve.

Shoving those filthy hands out of his face and and causes the medicines to fall all over the ground. Sasuke no longer be able to control his emotions and yells at the top of his lungs.

"I asked you what the fuck was that, are you deaf?!"

Startled by the loud voice, Nina bites her lips to calm herself before speaking in something that finally make sense to his mind. While reaching for her pocket and take out something else, it's a salve this time.

"I only wanted to save you, did I do wrong?"

Still, that's not what he's expected to hear.

"You do realize that this is not what I'm asking you right now, right?"

There's a long silence between them, yet her hands aren't stopping from treating the wounds on his left arm. Annoyed, Sasuke yanks his limb away from her.

"Stop doing that and say something!"

Only then he sees her lips are about to move again. However, everything's soon be replaced by Naruto high-pitched voice from afar. Then the entire team 7 has finally arrived to the scene. "Sasuke! Nina!"

As predictable as they can be, everyone halts their feet in shock once witnessing such sight before them. A pool of blood and bunch of severed body parts scattering all over the place. Not even a single bandit is left alive to tell the tale.

"Nina-chan, you're bleeding!"

"Sasuke-kun, are you alright?!"

Naruto and Sakura gasp at their messy states. Both of them are sitting on the ground out of breath, Sasuke's body is full of cuts and bruises while Nina has a deep blow on her left shoulder.

"Naruto! I was so scared..." Nina sobs into her hands like a little girl the moment seeing Naruto, her image has changes 180 degrees from the calm and collected to casual lame self within a mere second.

And Sasuke's just sitting there staring at her speechlessly, while Naruto is giving her a lecture for doing something too reckless. "Why did you run off on your own! You could have waited for me, you know!"

Sakura notices an opened salve lying next to the Uchiha's leg and the wounds on his left arm are being covered with the stuff inside it. Thinking that the boy is perhaps having trouble healing himself, she picks salve up into her palm and continue treating him with it.

After having a quick scan around the area, Kakashi speaks up. "Who did this?"

"It was Sasuke." And the first person to answer is Nina. Much to everyone's shock, especially the Uchiha himself.

"Really?! Sasuke-kun is so cool!" Sakura blushes at the image of the overpowered Sasuke wiping out an entire army all by himself. While Naruto looks as if he doesn't believe what he's just heard. "Eh?! For real?!"

As much as Sasuke wants to protest that Nina's lying through her teeth, he figures that it would be best to play along with her for now and save the serious talk for later. When both of them are in better conditions.

"Yes, he protected me from the bandits when I was injured..." Attempting to weaken the continuous bleeding by weighting her right hand on the wound, Nina explains. As she's about to say more, however, Nina begins to lose her balance and stumbles.

Quickly, Naruto extend his arms to catch her from falling. Despite his calls, the girl doesn't wake up. "Nina-chan! What's wrong?!"

Sakura also hurries over to check on Nina's condition. And the moment she comes into contact with her skin. Sakura gasps at the high temperature that her female teammate is bearing. "Kakashi-sensei! She's burning up!"

Without further hesitation, Kakashi ordered Naruto and Sakura to take them both back to the Konohagakure's hospital for the treatment. Before leaving, the ex-anbu didn't forget to retrieve the lost package which he found lying within the battle field not too far away.

He also discovered the man who seemed to be Kibutsuji, or what's left of him, a wanted criminal in worth of 50,000 ryo along with a big sack full of treasures. Therefore, Kakashi decided to bring Kibutsuji's head and the stolen goods back to Konoha for their reward money.


	10. Chapter 10

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 10

* * *

I'm now somewhat awake but my mind feels a bit fuzzy. _Just how long has I been out already?_

From here I can hear the sound of birds chirping, curtains flowing through the wind, leaves rustling against each other and feel the warmth of morning sunshine on the surface of my skin. My guess is that I am on the third floor.

Without opening my eyes, I can sense Naruto is sitting by my bedside, slowly dozing off. While Kakashi's standing against the wall several steps away. Sasuke and Sakura are nearby, probably staying in the next room.

Despite wanting to flick Naruto's forehead to wake up so badly, I just can't move a single muscle. My limbs feels numb, my throat's so dry, I'm tired all over.

 _What was the last time I've been in this state again? Probably a couple of years back._

It's my first try activating this mysterious energy, accidentally but worth it, when desperately trying to free Ryu's from the enemy's grips. And I still remember being bedridden a whole week long after that just to recover from serious Ki loss.

Luckily Momiji was there to help me speed up the progress by imbuing her spiritual life-force into my body. If not, I would have died out of boredom for not being able to do anything in such amount of time.

..

...

Once finally coming back to my sense, I was lying on my bed inside my room, completely worn out. And sitting by my bed side was Ryu, who was no longer in his usual shinobi black suit but a simple dark-greenish kimono.

"How are you feeling?" was the first things he said to me as I felt his hand touched my forehead.

As much as I wanted to say I was fine, none of the muscles on my body felt like moving so I blinked to him as response. Therefore Ryu smiled and proceeded stroking my hair, telling me what happened soon after I fainted.

"Back then you was burning hot like a mini furnace, Momiji almost went crazy when she saw me bringing you home. Everyone was so worried."

Despite being unconscious throughout the chaos, I could still imagine her expression at that moment perfectly inside my mind.

Momiji was angry and sad, plus disappointed in between, because I didn't listen to her sayings and followed Ryu out of the village on my own. Resulting me being held hostage by the opposite shinobi's clan and interrupted Ryu during of his important mission.

And if I didn't awaken this strange power within that critical moment, none of us would have been here alive by now.

"Ryu nii-sama... aren't you mad at me?"

Hearing my faint whisper, his hand stopped.

"Why would I be? You almost risked your life to save me back then, Nina. I couldn't be thankful enough."

Yet Ryu's face grew serious and he sounded forced, as if he's blaming himself for letting this to happen.

"However, starting from today, you're forbidden from activating that dangerous power in any way, any situation." He declared, not giving me a chance to object or express my opinion about this matter.

 _Whatever, I'm going to find a way to figure things out without his consent._

"At least not until you're trained enough to fully control it." Seemed to have read right through my mind, he added another line in. Only one second before my eruption about not being allowed to learn about true identity.

"Promise me."

Ryu had been holding my hand tight while speaking those words, and that was probably the first time I saw him asking for something so desperately. Just how could I possibly refuse?

...

..

"It's been three days already. Will she really be okay, Kakashi-sensei?"

Getting impatience that his friend hasn't showed any sign of waking up, Naruto asks his teacher.

"The doctor said that she's just sleeping, Naruto. Have a little faith."

Getting tired having Naruto bugging them with the same question all over and over, Sakura ensures him, again, while trying not to hit the boy in the head out of irritation.

Meanwhile Sasuke's standing beside them and being as quiet as ever. Probably even worse than before when coming back from the previous mission. And the only one who manages to make him open his mouth from time to time is properly Kakashi. Though whatever they have talked about forever remains a mystery.

"I'm sure she's fine. Look for yourself."

Kakashi points his index finger toward to Nina's bed. Therefore they all turn around, finding that the girl has opened her eyes and staring at them.

It takes Naruto a few seconds to calm himself down from jumping or shouting in excitement and, along with Sakura, hurry over to check on her. Despite not being able to talk or move much, everyone senses that Nina's spirit has gotten much better than before. What a relief.

 **A few days later.**

"Nina-chan!"

Naruto, who is as enthusiastic as always, is here again to visit me. But this time he brings me breakfast, a couple of nicely done onigiri and a bottle of tea. Simply because hospital's food are too plain that it's starting to get me sick.

"Thank you so much!"

Been starving for ages, I dive into those beautiful rice balls without a second thought, while Naruto watches me with a grin on his face. "We can't wait to go on the next mission with you!"

"...Me too." I answer him, a little reluctantly. Because unlike him and the other members of team 7, I do not looking forward to what so called *next mission*, even for a single bit. _Who knows if this one will turn out to be another disaster?_

 _And more importantly, that D rank mission was not **suppose** to happen, right? _That's what I have been asking myself ever since. So much that I'm about to develop an anxiety for it. _  
_

"What's wrong? You don't want to?"

Seems to have seen through my lie, Naruto asks. That bright smile on his face's also dropped.

"I don't know, Naruto. Am I really suitable for the team?"

The food in my mouth starts to taste bitter and I stop chewing on the half eaten Onigiri. Trying to say those words to Naruto clearly but don't have the heart to look at him in the eyes.

"Why are you saying that all of the sudden?" Just as I expected. He sounds sad and confused, perhaps even disappointed. Still, Naruto isn't going to outburst immediately and keeps on listening to what I have to say.

"It's... my fault for being too reckless. Both Sasuke and I were lucky to get out of that hellhole alive, but that didn't mean there would be no next time."

When Sasuke decided to go on suicide mode by facing those bandits alone. I had no choice but to use that power to help him, even if it would cost my own life. Because I, no... not only I but everyone here, depends on both of you to save the world from Kaguya.

"I mean, things are getting out of my control now, Naruto. I just can't..."

Now that my existence has caused changes to the story line, it also means the future will no longer be the same as the one I used to know. _Although I have yet to figure out what will happen if I continue staying with them, but I'm not going to risk it. Not this time._

"Don't give up! If there's next time, I shall be fighting by your side. I'm not letting you get hurt like that ever again, you know!"

Meanwhile within Naruto's mind, he's probably imagining that I'm sulking over being weak and tries to cheer me up, promising to never leave each other side and protect me from whatever to come in the future.

Oh how I wish everything was that simple, I really do. _Except it's should to be the other way around, Naruto. I'd rather die than having you mindlessly sacrificing yourself for me._

"Seriously, you're just too good for your own good, Naruto..."

Still, I am contented to know that this boy really treasures me as a friend.

After a while, Naruto begins to open up about his tough past. He's treated as an outcast, growing up without parents and struggling to be acknowledged by the people around him.

He states that no one is perfect from beginning, as he's the also the same, and it takes a lot of time for him to improve his shinobi skills in order to get to where he is now.

"I'll always be here whenever you need my help. Believe it."

In the end Naruto asked me to rethink about leaving the team as he thought that I might have been to hasty since it's only been one mission. Though If I still resolved to quit after thinking about it thoroughly, Naruto promised to not interfere and respect my decision completely.

 **Next morning**

Sakura visited me just now to inform great news that Sasuke had been discharged this morning. While I'm still stuck in this place for a couple more days or so.

 _If I didn't collapse for every ten steps or so, I would have jumped out of the hospital's balcony and gone home already._

Staring at the same old scenery for nth times through the room's window, I sigh in boredom and return to my bed, getting ready for the upcoming check-up.

Then the door is opened but the person steps inside isn't one of the expected medical-nin but Kakashi, carrying and basket full of fruit in his hand. Seeing me, he gestures his hand to say hi and casually makes his way toward to my bed, finding a chair to sit down and placing the basket onto the small table nearby.

"You're not here to interrogate me, are you?"

Leaning onto the soft pillow, I ask him and Kakashi gasps, pretending to be heart-broken.

"How could you think so poorly of me, Nina-chan? You're making your sensei sad..."

* * *

The moment team 7 arrived to Konoha, Kakashi was told by the medical-nin that it's only matter of luck for the girl to make it out alive. As Nina's life force was almost drained empty, plus suffering from a deep wound on her shoulder and terrible blood loss. Yet none of them could heal her through Shosen no Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique)

Same goes with the first time they brought her into the hospital due to suffering from severe fall damage, the medical-nin had no choice but to mend the injuries in old fashioned way, with bandages and medicines.

Because Nina possessed no chakra within her body.

Therefore Kakashi reminded the medical-nin to continue keeping the info of Nina's condition from everyone else, including his students. Yet it's already too late since the rest of team 7 had eavesdropped everything through the hallway.

* * *

Right now by the look on Kakashi's face and his carefree attitude, I bet he's known something. That means more explanations and I definitely don't like the sound of that.

"Beside, there is no need to rush things. We still have plenty of time."

Kakashi says, offering me a fresh apple inside the fruit basket. "Today, I'm simply here to see how you're doing."

His eye then glances toward to a specific spot through the wall before us. And it doesn't take much time for me to guess that it's Sasuke who is hiding behind it, trying to gain information for himself.

 _That Uchiha sure doesn't know when to give up, does he._

"If you say so." I accept the bright red apple from his hand and take a bite, the fruit's sweet and crunchy.

It's been ages since I've had something this good, perhaps I should try looking for some more at the market once getting out of this place. _Oh right, talk about money._

"Sensei, I heard from Naruto that we gained quite a good amount of Ryo from the last mission due to the bonus from defeating Kibutsuji. Was it true?"

Hearing so, Kakashi nods happily and proceed listing the rewards that team 7 has received, a small boost in ranking, several useful shinobi kits and of course the most important thing is also among them. Ryo.

As expected from the infamous scarecrow, he figures out my intention a few seconds after being asked. "Alright, what do you want?"

"Well... The faucet is leaking so I can't sleep peacefully at night. My door and windows get stuck quite often."

"Okay." Kakashi nods and starts writing my request into a small notebook.

"There isn't much food left and my monthly allowance is running low."

"Done." He continues noting and waiting patiently.

"My blanket and mattress are too old. I've been sleeping on the tatami ever since living in Konoha so having a proper bed would be nice."

Kakashi's movement halts for a couple of seconds before giving in. "Fine."

"Then can you get me a new TV too?"

"Don't push it!" Having enough, Kakashi shuts his notebook and puts it back inside his jacket. Not forgetting to tell me to rest and get well soon before stomping out of the room, leaving space for the medical-nin who has just arrived in time for my check-up.

"Thank you, sensei!" I bid him goodbye and notice that Sasuke's presence has also gone. Probably bored with our lame talks and decided to go home as well.

 _Eh, who I am even kidding. This is Uchiha Sasuke, not some random shinobi people see on the street._

After witnessing me using _that_ , I bet he's now up to no good. Which means I have to be extra careful around him from now on. Plus that Curse of Hatred from that damned clan is not something to toy with and I'm sure as hell don't want to get involved in, ever.

 _Man, just by thinking about it has stressed me out already._

 _.._

 _.._

Then two days worth of waiting passes and I'm officially discharge from the hospital. _Finally._

While wandering alone around the street, looking for several skin and hair care products before going home. I bump into Sakura, who is also shopping for her cosmetics.

Thanks to the incident from last time that got me immobilized for almost a week long, everyone in team 7 has been informed that I carry zero chakra in my body. Although none of them have yet to figure out the reason.

To me, having no chakra is not really big of a secret and I have no intention of hiding it. Sooner or later everyone would know, especially when a skilled sensor type appears. Like Karin, or Ino in Shippuden.

"Shouldn't you be resting more? I mean, you just got out of the hospital." Asked Sakura when she's told that I was ready to join the team for the upcoming mission.

To assure her, I show Sakura my shoulder and she's amazed to find my wound is completely healed, not even a scar visible. It's only ki that my body's still lacking of right now but I'm sure it'll be manageable.

And much to my surprise, Sakura's actually well informed about Ki. Shyly admitting to me that she's somehow gotten interested into it, after Kakashi explained to them about my *special* condition. And ended up spending a day or two in the library swimming in scrolls and books just to get to know this energy better.

Sakura proceeds explaining that using Ki, I can do what most shinobi here can do. Walking on wall and water surface. Even casting specialized Ninjutsu (Ninpo), which I have yet be able to.

However, techniques that based solely on chakra like Genjutsu and Shosen no Jutsu, including everything under those two branches, are a no go for me.

Similar to chakra, ki is a form of life energy. Except I won't die instantly if it depletes, unless being in critical state like heavily injured and such. Because I won't be able to regenerate anything without ki.

"That's why you have to be extra careful from now on. Nina-chan, because you can neither heal or be healed." Sakura concludes her lesson time with another forewarning.

"And if you have any problem in anything, just tell me. I will do my best to help."

Sakura promised to provide full support without spending a moment to think, giving me a thumb up as a way to confirm her words.

"Uhm... Thank you, Sakura, you are so kind."

I'm moved and almost turned speechless when being showered by Sakura's tenderness. _I mean who wouldn't, she studied almost the whole library just to figure out what my power was and even told me how to use it properly._

Hearing so, Sakura grins brightly. "Come on, don't be so polite. We are friends. Aren't we?"

If only the author didn't overwhelm everyone with countless scene of her punching Naruto and swooning, crying over Sasuke, they could see that Sakura could turn out to be a nice girl and a good friend.

Figure that this is be a good chance for me repay her troubles, I suggest us visiting an ice cream shop nearby. Since it's almost noon and the air is getting hot. "Say, how about we have some sweets after this? It's my treat."

Therefore Sakura gladly accepts my offer and is ready to go. But first thing first, I still need to pick up my shampoo.

"Hey, Sakura. Any advice on what I should choose?"

 **The next day**

It's around noon when Naruto decide to drag the whole team 7 into Ichiraku restaurant. To celebrate our mission success, which has been postponed for almost a week long due to I and Sasuke being hospitalized.

Once arriving to the restaurant, I'm told that Kakashi isn't going to join us today however. Since he has an important task to finish within today. _What a shame._


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note** : Thank you so much for your support! However, I cannot answer your questions regarding Nina since doing that will completely spoil the whole plot of this fanfic. (No one would want that to happen, right?)

I promise everything will be explained thoroughly when you get further into the story, so please wait until then.

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 11

* * *

 **Hokage's office.**

"Sandaime." Kakashi greets him with a slight bow before approaching the Hokage's desk, which is, as always, full of document's stacks. Offering Hiruzen the report of the previous mission and Nina's data he has collected up till now.

After a few minutes waiting for the man to read through everything, Hiruzen gives him an approval nod.

"Great works. Kakashi. It's a right decision to leave her in your hands after all." Therefore Hiruzen grins, placing the document onto the desk and proceeds enjoying his smoke.

"I watched her matches and tested out her abilities. So I can say that Nina is, at best, an average Genin like anybody else in Konohagakure."

Kakashi then explains further details to him.

First, he had separated Naruto from Nina that night on purpose so that Sasuke could seek out for her. By doing so, he'd be able to check whether Nina willing to hurt any of her teammates in order to get out of trouble.

And Nina had figured out a peaceful way to end the conflict, by dragging him into their argument and asking for his aid.

Second, Kakashi left the main objective in her care from the beginning, fully aware that there's a valuable piece of jewelry inside, in order to test her sense of responsibility.

The girl proved to have done the job well by protecting with everything she'd got.

However that's also considered a huge drawback of her. When the package was stolen, Nina had abandoned her teammates in the middle of the fight and acted alone to retrieve it, without spending a moment to think of the situation she's in.

At result, not only her own life was at risk but also the one's of her teammate, Sasuke.

"Indeed, there's still a long way for her to learn." After listening to Kakashi's analysis, Hiruzen comments.

The only way to measure her strength and weakness is through fighting real battles. That's why Hiruzen had picked this D rank mission, which was originally a C rank mission as they were expected to eliminate a group of bandit that was after the valuable necklace. Of course, this info was only shared between Kakashi and Hiruzen.

Too bad, the ex-anbu didn't have the chance to fully witness her abilities since everything had ended way before she could do anything notable. Or so he thought.

"Right, one more thing." Kakashi requires additional time to look further into the girl's identity, as much as her real motives for coming to Konohagakure. By doing so equivalent to have her staying inside the village longer than intended. And Hiruzen agrees, as long as it will help boosting Kakashi's research performance.

"Beside being a casual Ki user, there appears to be another kind of energy being locked deep within that small body. And it's definitely something I had never encountered before in my life."

Kakashi frowns after hearing Hiruzen's theories about her mysterious identity. Including her special condition of not carrying a single drop of chakra within her body.

"We need to find out what that energy is and how it works. Therefore, I'm leaving this job to you, Kakashi."

Just as he thought, not only him but the Third Hokage had also suspected that Nina's no ordinary human being. Right from the start.

..

...

Around 9:00 P.M on a building's roof top, one day before Nina's being discharged from the hospital.

"I'll speak truthfully to you, but in three conditions." Leaning against the fence to enjoy Konoha's night scenery and the cool breeze against her hair, Nina said. Holding up three fingers to him.

First, no violence or any method that forcing information out of her, including Ibuki Morino's Honesty Room and Inoichi Yamanaka's brain reading. No prison or to be held in a particular type of custody.

Though she seemed fine with him continue stalking her, stating that there were things bounded to be unprevented since he's only a shinobi who worked by orders. But in exchange, he had to convince the Hokage to lengthen her time staying in Konoha. As long as possible.

Second, any forbidden info he gained through their conversations had to be carried into his grave. Revealed to no one about their personal meetings, even to the Hokage.

If she found out that Kakashi broke any of the rules above, considering the deal's off. Obviously.

When he asked what the third condition was, Nina simply said that she would tell him when the right time came.

"And what makes you think that I won't use Sharingan and simply bypass those rules?"

Of course, he wasn't going let a little girl lead him around by the nose that easily.

"Well, you can try but I highly doubt that it will work."

As the butterfly pin almost fell off her hair due to the strong wind, she took the pin off and stared at it for a little while before putting it back onto her head, acting quite carefree as if having heard an empty threat.

Not buying her words, Kakashi activated his Gekkei Genkai and gave it a try. Sadly just as she had said, Genjutsu: Sharingan wasn't working.

"Since you fully understands the use of Genjutsu. I'm sure you have the answer for this mystery already."

It required chakra to work and Nina happened to have none.

 _But how?_ Up until now there's no answer for this mystery no matter how much Kakashi had searched. While the quickest way was to ask the girl herself, he doubted that she would be completely honest with him any time soon.

"So why did you run away when Sasuke attempted using Sharingan on you?"

Covering his left eye, Kakashi asked her and she groaned in respond. Probably having enough of Uchiha bugging her around here and there.

"I absolutely have no idea how to fake being hypnotized by Genjutsu: Sharingan. And if Sasuke figure out that I'm somehow immune to his clan's trademark technique, do you think he will let me off that easily?"

If Kakashi didn't help her going through Sasuke's interrogation back then, who knew what kind of chaos he was about to bring up next.

"Reasonable enough, I guess." Kakashi scratched the back of his head.

For some reasons he couldn't help but feeling off about this strange agreements she's offering him, since it could turn out to be a trap in order to lure him into something much bigger.

What Kakashi needed right now was something to ensure him that Nina's trustworthy enough to risk for. "Do you have anything to prove that any of your info would actually worth my time and effort?"

However she refused to reveal anything, guess his bait's not good enough. "Hmm... I don't think so. Sensei, you haven't agreed to work with me yet."

"You don't have to tell me everything. Just a little bit is already enough."

Almost twenty minutes later, the girl still stood there watching the night scenery. Seem to be deep in thought and hadn't cracked a single word to him ever since. And Kakashi's starting to lose his patience.

"If you need more time to think, we can continue this matter on another day." Therefore Kakashi offered her to leave it for next time. Since he couldn't afford having his time wasted when there's an unfinished report waiting for him at home. And tomorrow's already the deadline.

As soon as he finished talking, Nina spoke up. "Nohara Rin committed suicide because of the Three-Tails sealed inside her, didn't she?"

His heart throbbed the moment she mentioned exact his teammate's name and the reason of her death, still, Kakashi tried his best to stay calm from the shock and questioned her back.

"I... don't know, why are you asking me?"

But to no avail, as that the girl had already noticed something's stirred in him due to the short hesitation at the beginning of his sentence.

"Well, I thought you would be the one to know best, sensei. Since you Chidori your teammate right through her-"

And Nina had never seen anyone who moved to grab her neck that fast in her life.

"That's enough. Who are you working for?" Kakashi demanded for answer, his tone deepened so much that it sounded like a threat.

Yet Nina didn't flinch for the first time being overwhelmed by his power. As if having predicted for this to happen to her from the very beginning. "You seem nervous, sensei. Are you okay?"

She pointed out how Kakashi's right hand was shaking horribly, only to have his grip on her neck tightened. And Nina figured that if she caused just a slight movement, he could snap her neck into two.

"Don't worry. I am my own boss here."

The shinobi girl held both of her arms up as a sign of defeat, while assuring him that she acted alone in this world. Utterly confident and relaxed, "If you still don't believe me, you're welcomed to search for whoever or whatever is hiding behind my shadow. Hell, I can even help you if you want."

Seeing the uncertainty in his eye, Nina chuckled. "So, Kakashi-sensei. What's your answer?"

...

..

 **Ichiraku ramen restaurant**

Since there's still many things for her to take care of at home, Nina has excused herself first after finish eating the ramen. Now there are Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke who are still staying behind to enjoy their cup of teas and little chitchats.

"It's only been a week since Nina's hospitalized, right?" After all the fun and game, Sakura then mentions about their other female teammate's condition, which quickly gains their attention.

"But this morning I saw the wound on her shoulder was completely gone. That's not possible for someone who going through natural healing. If I remembered correctly, it's quite a deep cut too."

Sasuke's eyes are still fixed onto the cup in front of him while listening to Sakura's words.

"Really? Well uh... maybe her body's trained to heal fast?" Naruto's happy for his friend after hearing the news. Yet once seeing Sakura's serious expression, he tilts his head and starts thinking about what's wrong. _Well, if she recovers from injuries quickly then that's good right? What is there to worry about?_

"That could be one of the reasons. What do you think, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura then turns to ask him for his opinion. However, what they see now is an empty cup of tea and the boy is nowhere to be seen.

"Eh? He's gone."

 **On the way to Nina's apartment**

Nina's shopping for some red apple at the vendor by the street. Only to be interrupted in the middle when Sasuke appears right before her, demanding for answers of what happened back at Kibutsuji's lair.

It's a fair trade between them since he had helped her getting away with it last time.

 **Third Training Ground.**

"That's it? Are you bullshitting me?" Sasuke frowns after hearing her half-ass explanation.

Nina shrugs in respond and refuses to provide anymore information to him. "Sadly no, That's pretty much everything I know about it."

Yet something in that annoying attitude of hers is telling him there's something more than simply *I was born with it* and *Things just happened on its own*

"You must be a special case of stupid to expect me to believe in any of that."

Without a single warning, Sasuke starts attacking by throwing several Shuriken toward her. In return, she uses her Shuriken to deflect his and patiently wait for him to strike first. So she can counter his attack and kick him in the stomach while his guard's lowered, sending him flying away.

"Hmph! You do know how fight after all."

Quickly gaining back balance with his legs, Sasuke states as he wipes the dirt off his clothes. Having cleared out some of his doubts thanks to their short crash just now.

"If you're trying to make me use _it_ again, then you're only wasting your-"

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Doesn't wait for Nina to finish her sentence, Sasuke does the Ninjutsu's signature hand signs and shoots a giant fireball to her spot.

As he's expected, the girl jumps up into the air to dodge it. Which means she's now vulnerable to attack and quickly, he jumps onto the air and gets behind her back to deliver multiple hits. Ending his combo with a kick to send the girl down to the ground below.

"What? Is that all?" Sasuke approaches her with a Kunai in his hand, smirking as he watches Nina struggling to get up.

"Just as I thought. Without that monstrous power, you are nothing."

Perhaps his taunt has triggered something in her as Nina's expression suddenly sharpened. She then wipes away the blood stuck on her lips and jolts up from the ground. Charging at him with the Kunai in her hand.

Again, Sasuke throws several Shuriken to slow down her speed, however, Nina ignores his attack completely, by letting them slash through her skin and when they're only a few feet away. She throws the Kunai toward him.

Sasuke's fast enough to avoids that flying knife, even have the time to spare to land a hit, or two, across her face. But that still not enough to stop her from grabbing Sasuke in the head and slammed him hard against the ground. The force's so strong that it breaks the earth below them.

The Uchiha's stunned by that attack and using it as an advantage, Nina starts pummelling him furiously with her fists. Sasuke wakes up after a couple punches and quickly defends himself with his arms, but still getting hit here and there. It takes him a while to figure out an opening to get free and when he does, they both are pretty much out of breath.

 _That seriously took me by surprise. What kind of suicidal attack was that?_ He glances toward to the strange girl who is kneeling nearby. She's staring back and seems to be worn out as much as him.

"You're actually right-handed, huh? Must be fun making fool out of us."

Sasuke compares her first matches against the team 7 where she lost to oblivion by using only left hand to fight and faking to be inexperienced. To that deadly moment just now when she grabbed him by the face and smashed his body onto the ground with her right hand, almost knocked him out cold. _I don't understand her. What is she hiding her abilities for?_

Doesn't want to get involved into another meaningless verbal fight with him, Nina ignores his mocking and walks off.

"If you continue acting so stubborn, I will expose your lies to Kakashi. And even to Sandaime himself." Sasuke says, standing up from his spot.

Being a snitch isn't really his kind of thing but if it helps solving the problem fast, then Sasuke will not hesitate to do so. And his method seems to work against her as Nina's stopped moving, her teeth cringe.

After a long moment of waiting, the girl finally speaks up. But sounds somewhat pissed. "Seriously. Do you realize how much I've worked to keep myself from getting involved in the storyline? Do you have any idea how crazy it is for me to be grouped in the same team with overpowered main characters? Just why are you keep doing this to me..."

"Storyline? Main character? Overpowered? What are you even saying?"

Sasuke's eyebrow raises, trying hard to comprehend those nonsense words Nina just speaks of. While thinking whether he had hit her too hard earlier that she'd gone out of her mind.

"I'm talking about you, jackass!" Suddenly, Nina shouts and points her index finger to his face.

And no word can describe how deeply confused and speechless Sasuke is right now, as he just stands there watching her sudden outburst with a hanging mouth.

It's not until a minute later that Nina's able to snap back to reality. Gasping in shock here and there and acting as if she has said something inappropriate.

Quickly Nina turns away from him and attempts to escape from the area as fast as she can. "This conversation is over, I'm going home."

"You're not getting away that easily."

Sasuke dashes forward to stop Nina from running away by grabbing her arm, but the girl has disappeared before he can even reach to her. _The heck? Was that Shunshin no Jutsu?_ (Body Flicker Technique)

 **The next day**

Arriving to Nina's apartment early in the morning, Kakashi then knocks onto her windows to notice her about his presence. And about a couple of minutes later, Nina appears by the windows and greets him with a slight nod.

"What have you been up to yesterday?"

Kakashi asks her, after being told by Naruto last night that the girl didn't come home like she said she would after going out eating Ramen with the team 7.

"There was a little problem and I had to take care of it. But it's all good now."

Leaning onto the wall behind, Nina says and Kakashi notices that her hair, outfit are quite dirty and messy. It seems that the girl has been involved in a fight with something, or someone.

Not going to pry into his student's personal affair however, not for now, Kakashi reminds her to explain the reason of their little meeting today. "So? What did you call me out here for?"

Her eyes turn from him to the wide blue sky at his left then finally the ground below, taking a deep breath before speaking word by word clearly.

"If possible, I want to withdraw from team 7."


	12. Chapter 12

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 12

* * *

At first, I was expected to be lectured for an hour or more about my responsibilities as a Shinobi, perhaps even being called a coward, and selfish for only thinking about myself and abandoned my teammates. Not to mention that I may have no voice in this matter because the it's the Third Hokage who had appointed me into the team.

That's why I had spent almost a whole night long just to figure out a way to counter Kakashi's cross-question before bringing up this matter to him. Yet the only reaction I receive is him tilting his head to one side along with an usual deadpanned face. "Oh? Any specific reason for that?"

"Well, I really can't tell you much but... This is really important and I hope that you can trust me on this."

After hearing my explanation, not a good one to be honest, Kakashi takes out his notebook and writes something into it before turning his head to me.

"Is this counted as the third condition?"

I shake my head in response.

"Alright then. Just so you know, this is not something to be done in one or two days. I will inform you once there's news about it."

Kakashi puts notebook back inside his jacket and vanishes from the spot. Probably on the way to his next assignment, and he seems to be in a hurry, too.

 _Wow... That went much easier than I expected? Is this even normal?_

I stand there in awe for almost a minute long then open up the windows to get inside my room. Too tired to change into pjama or take a bath, I jump straight onto my newly bought bed to look for a little comfort, as I barely have any sleep since last night.

What's left to do is to inform this news to the others. But how am I suppose to do it probably?

Should I just straight out telling then now or wait till everything's been done? Hopefully things won't get too awkward between us after I leave the team...

By afternoon I was woke up by loud bangs on my door coming from our friendly neighborhood boy, Naruto, who was eager to train for the upcoming Chuunin exam and decided that I should be coming with him. In hope that we would somehow figure out a combination attack for ourselves, just as he did with Sasuke.

Then he proceeded dragging both Sakura and Sasuke, who were enjoying their walk on the street, to join him in his training along the way. Because the more, the merrier or so he said.

So now everyone is here, except for Kakashi, gathering at the third training ground and trying to discuss on how we should split the team into a group of two, one male and one female, for practice matches.

And I still haven't found a single moment to talk about it to everyone, no, it's more like I just can't bring myself to whenever seeing Naruto's overly enthusiastic face. As I keep opening my mouth then closing them immediately, for so many times that I'm starting to make myself look like a dying fish.

 _Perhaps I should leave it for another day..._

Almost 20 minutes passes and their debate has yet come to an end. I decide to conclude it for the team by picking Naruto as my training partner. And Naruto gladly agrees to follow my plan, because it's his intention to train with me begin with.

Sakura's also happy with my decision since she has been itching to be grouped with Sasuke way from the beginning. Though the girl doesn't say it out loud to us but it's quite understandable simply by reading her face expression, which has been rotating 360 degrees whenever there's an opinion about her partner being either Naruto or Sasuke.

"Picking on the weak now, huh?"

Suddenly Sasuke speaks to me, yet his tone make it sounds more like an insult than expressing his opinion of being dissatisfied with the team's *unfairly* distribution. Then he proceeds demanding for a partner swap. Too bad for the Uchiha, none of us really wants to make a change. And the reason is quite obvious.

"Bastard, who are you calling weak!"

As expected, Naruto erupts immediately after hearing Sasuke's little taunt.

"Naruto isn't weak. And as far as I know, he's way stronger than you are."

I step in between the two and drag Naruto away from a potential verbal fight, paying no mind to the Uchiha's glare.

Naruto's temper quickly dies down thanks to Sasuke's grumpy face, then he starts throwing harmless insults and sticks out his tongue to make fun of him. Despite being told to stop pouring fuel into fire for multiple times, Naruto keeps on going until earning a couple of punches to the head by Sakura for being way too annoying.

"Oh really? Do you want to bet?"

Dismissing the chaos between the two, Sasuke invites his friend to a one on one battle. Of course, Naruto isn't someone who is going to back down from a challenge, especially from his ultimate rival.

"You're on! If I win, you will have to call me Naruto-sama for the rest of your life!"

Naruto gives him the middle finger and declares loudly.

"And if I win, you will be the ultimate loser for the rest of your life."

Sasuke smirks and takes a few steps away from Naruto, pulling out his Kunai and gets into his offensive stance.

 _Oh boy, I have a very bad feeling about this..._ I watch the two of them getting into their positions speechlessly.

At result, both I and Sakura are now standing at the side of the battle ring, acting as the audiences and judges for those burning in fire of youths fighting for their Shinobi's prides.

"Do your best, Sasuke-kun!" As always, Sakura cheers for her crush with one hundred percent confident that he would win easily.

I, on the other hand, somewhat starting to regret for stating my opinion out loud without thinking. Sighing from time to time since it's already fifteen minutes into the fight and Naruto has not be able to land a proper hit. _  
_

For Sasuke's part, it seems that the Uchiha has gotten familiar with Naruto's overused tactic and gradually finding a way to finish him completely. He gets around with Naruto's clone and be able to pin points the real one with ease, all thanks to that damned Kekkei Genkai of his.

If Naruto actually loses to him and be called an ultimate loser forever, it'll be my fault since I'm the one who started this fight, indirectly. And as much as I don't want to do it, but right now should be the good time to start thinking of a way to cheer him up after the battle, in case that Naruto loses.

 _Shall I just play it safe with Ramen? Hopefully I still have enough money to pay for large servings..._

"Brr... Clang!"

Within the noises of clashing weapons, Naruto's and Sasuke's shouting for their names and using Ninjutsu, a sound of a heavy object falling on the ground snaps me out of my fantasy and I turn to ask Sakura.

"Hey Sakura, did you hear that?"

However, Sakura's too focus on the battle to notice anything and shakes her head in response.

 _It's not too far away from where we are standing, maybe I should go take a look._ Too late to ignore it now, I start moving away from the spot to search for the source of that mysterious sound. And the further I walk, the louder it gets and there seems to be other mechanical noises mixed along with it. Soon, I reach to the spot and...

 _Oh. My. God._

Standing before my eyes are three human-shaped figures, painted white and as tall as an human adult. Made out of some material that looks like steel but much more durable, and of course, they all are heavily armed.

My heart begins to race by the surge of memories flowing back to my brain, arms and legs are feeling so weak that I have to lean on a tree nearby to keep myself from collapsing.

 _You have got to be kidding me. Why here? Why now?_

I cover my mouth and noses to calm myself from the shock, but it still cannot drive away the fear that is eating me alive from inside out. Gulping down a mouthful of air, I crouch down and try to get closer to their spot to be able to see clearer.

 _For god's sake! How the heck did they get in without being noticed anyway? Isn't Konoha being heavily guarded right now?_

But then again, it's probably better for everyone here if these things aren't being noticed. Saving me lots of trouble and time from having to explain crazy stories to Kakashi.

And right now those machines are scanning all over the area, using laser from their red giant eye in the middle of their heads and searching nonstop for something, which is of course, me.

 _They are the same model with the ones that Ryu and I fought against at the lab._ My teeth cringe when recalling to the unpleasant memories.

Back then Ryu could defeat like an army of these all by himself using his Dragon sword and overpowered Ninpo. Except right now is no longer the case, because none of us here is as powerful as him. And I'm sure as hell don't own or know how to wield a freaking Dragon sword.

I can risk using that technique again with the Twin Daggers, just like last time with Kibutsuji. But it's not going to last long since I do not have enough energy to sustain it. _Best I can do right now is one minute, and that's quite impossible to handle them all within such amount of time._

But first thing first, I have to find a way to lead them out of the village without being noticed. Since I do not want to cause a big ruckus and ends up gaining unnecessary attentions from the other forces that has yet to appear in the storyline.

"Beep! Target I.D: No.9 is located. Confirming coordination..."

 _Wait... What the fuck did it just say?_

Turned out that while I was swimming deep in thoughts, their lasers had gone through where I was hiding and completely scanned me from head to toes.

Immediately, I stand up and make a run for my life. Only to be grabbed from behind within milliseconds by their extended automatic arms, which is almost meters long, and dragging me back to where they are standing with ease.

"Target's secured. Preparing to depart."

* * *

By now the rest of the team 7 have noticed Nina's absence and begin to look for her.

"I remembered Nina-chan said something about hearing a strange sound near here." Said Sakura to her team members when she's asked about her last conversation with Nina before her sudden disappearance.

In the end both Naruto and Sasuke weren't able to settle out their bets, as they had to drop the fight in the middle due to Naruto's constant nagging about finding their missing kunoichi.

Soon, they pick up Nina's shouting and everyone immediately accelerates. When they finally arrive to the scene, the girl's already been captured by the unknown enemies, which look like walking cyborgs that weighted easily over tons. Long arms and legs, equipped with a giant round eye made out of glass in the middle of their heads.

As if they have just stepped out of sci-fi channels and comic books.

"Let go of her!"

Naruto's the first to act by summoning multiples of his shadow clones and dashes forward to attack the robot. Trying to release his teammate from its grip.

"Danger alert! Activating self-defense system!"

However one of the robots steps in to stop him by shooting a long line of red colored energy beam out of its eye, eliminate everything crosses its path, including Naruto's clones, and only misses the real one's head by several inches.

The strange light continues going until it reaches to a tree behind them and creating a hole through the body, burning it down into ashes by progress.

"What the heck was that?!"

Naruto begins to shiver after witnessing such high-tech power that he has never encountered before in his life.

"No idea, but I can clearly see that you're not suppose to get hit by that abomination."

Then it's Sasuke's turn to take action, he throws several shuriken attached with string at their legs in attempt of bringing them down on their knees. Once certain to have a grip on them, Sasuke uses all of his strength and starts pulling. Yet only end up being pulled backward instead due to its insane strength.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke!" Both Sakura and Naruto try to help him but it's happened way too fast for them to react.

Fortunately, the Uchiha's quick enough to let go of his hands and jumps off before getting himself smashed into lump of meat under the robot's feet.

"Please, listen to me and get out of here! You guys can't win against them!"

Witnessing their hopeless attempts, Nina begs for her teammates to escape from the area. Not wanting any of them to get involved in her overly complicated personal matter.

"Come on, Naruto." Having no other option, Sakura urges him and Naruto slowly retreat with the others up to one of the tree branches nearby, trying to come with a plan with the two to rescue her.

"Just so you know, I'm not leaving her."

Naruto states before anyone of them can speak.

"We know that already, idiot."

Sakura cringes her teeth in annoyance as she too, not being as much comfortable seeing her teammate being captured right in front of her eyes. Still, Sakura has to remind Naruto that he can get everyone here killed if doing something stupid without thinking, since he has always been the hot-headed one.

"But we can't just blindly jumping in to fight them, either. Didn't you see what it did just now with its eye?"

"One of them perhaps is even stronger than the three of us combined." Sasuke adds his opinion after going through his short analysis from the battle earlier. And as much as he doesn't want to admit it out loud, but those creepy steel dolls standing down there are way too much for them to handle.

"Then... What should we do?!"

Right now nothing here can guarantee their safety and not to mention that they have zero knowledge about the enemy. They have no plan, no supervisor, not even fully prepared for such fight since what they had in mind when first coming here was to train for the Chuunin exam. Not fighting powerful robots.

Meanwhile on the ground, the robots has already created a black hole about their sizes by combining each other's energy. Shocking everyone else, including Nina herself.

Ignoring the aggressive shinobi who are still prying on them up on the tree branches, they carry their main objective in their hands and vanish into the dark gate completely.

Taking the chance that it's still open, Naruto attempts to follow but being stopped in the middle by Sakura's call. "Wait, Naruto! L-Let's stay calm and report back to Kakashi-sensei, okay? I'm sure he will find a way to help."

As the boy's about to open his mouth to object, Sakura continues explaining.

"Trust me, I want to save her as much as you do but this situation is getting out of our hands now, Naruto. And god knows where that thing will lead us to. Plus we don't even know what more of those things can do and how to fight them."

She pleads for him to stay, recalling to their prior mission which they're almost being killed by Zabuza and Haku back at the Land of Wave. And that was when they already had Kakashi to back them up from time to time.

"This is too dangerous for us to handle by ourselves. We may die if fighting those things mindlessly. You have already seen how strong they are, haven't you? We need Kakashi-sensei and the others to help us!"

However, right now Naruto's too stubborn to listen to any logical reasons and turns away from them. He points at the black hole floating in the middle of the air up ahead, which is getting smaller by seconds.

"There is no time for that! Can't you see it's closing?! If we give up now, we may not be able to see her ever again!"

Not going to wait for the two to make up their minds, Naruto dashes right in the black hole and vanishes. Sasuke too, quickly follows Naruto's footsteps and jumps into the dark gate without looking back. Despite her callings for them to stop multiple times from behind.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!"

Cannot do anything but watching her teammates walked straight down onto their death routes, Sakura groans and holds her head. Squeezing her brain out whether she should leave with them or stay to ask for help. It's not until the gate's about to close completely that she finally be able to make up her mind and walks right in.

"Guys! W-Wait for me! I'm coming too!"


	13. Chapter 13

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 13

* * *

"What the hell is this place? It's almost pitch black!" Sakura comments the moment she steps into the unknown space, and once she notices familiar silhouettes moving up ahead. The girl speeds up.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!"

She grabs their shoulders when catching up to them and they both spin around in alert by the sudden contact. As Sakura sees their faces, she sighs in relief to have finally found her teammates.

"Sakura-chan! why are you here?!"

Naruto gasps out loud when realizes it's her who has grabbed him from behind.

"Same goes with you two, I'm not going to abandon my friend that easily."

Sakura's confident response earns a huge grin from Naruto and a smirk from Sasuke. As both of them seem to be satisfied with her reckless action for once in a while. And the pink haired girl smiles together with them, thinking that perhaps she has not made a wrong decision after all.

Team 7 continues moving forward while having zero clue about their next destination, but what makes them worry the most right now is that they have lost track of Nina and their enemies.

"This place is creeping me out." Sakura shivers, being uncomfortable by strange air surround her. In here there's no sound, no smell, and it's suffocating them with this eerie feeling lingering up to their necks.

Therefore Sasuke suggests everyone to speed up to find the exit since he too, getting a bad vibe about this area. After sprinting through something seems like a long dark and narrow hallway, they're able to get out to see the light and breathe the fresh air. Then end up finding themselves standing in the middle of another forest.

"Wait a minute, this place is..."

Sakura walks back and forth to find things that resemblances to her home in hope to pinpoint their location. Soon she recognizes the familiar route, the same sunset just like the one they saw earlier and finally, Konoha's gate, which is now located far behind them.

"We are outside of Konoha? Lucky us!" The pink haired girl jumps in joy once finding out that they aren't too far away from their village. Since she's expected way worse from the beginning, like getting trapped inside another world or somewhere that is not suitable for human to live.

"Everyone, over there!"

Naruto spots the enemies up ahead and signal the others to follow. It doesn't take long for them to catch up with those robots and when they're close. Naruto casts Kage Bunshin and together with his clones, he makes a long jumps forward and lands several strong kicks at their heads. Successfully causing them to stop moving and turn their targets to him.

"You guys..." Nina turns speechless the moment she sees endless of Naruto's clones and multiple flying Shuriken, which are getting eliminated one after another by the energy beams.

In the end, none of them has wanted to give up on her.

"Nothing you say can change my mind now, Nina-chan. Because I already promised to stay by your side, and I don't intend to go back on my words."

It doesn't matter what he's doing now is utterly stupid and suicidal. Naruto's holding firm on his refusal to give up on rescuing his friend.

"Don't get too carried away, I simply follow to find out what more of these things can possibly do."

Sasuke smirks and states his excuse the moment their eyes meet.

"Why didn't you stop them, Sakura?"

Nina asks her, as she's expected Sakura to be the most rational one out of everyone here, and yet the only answer she receives is a head shake from the pink haired girl.

"I... don't care anymore! Danger or not, we shall face them! Together! That's what friends are for!"

Sprinting by Naruto's side, Sakura expresses to keeps on doing whatever she thinks is best. It seemed that Naruto's strong will of saving their teammate's life has overthrown the fear of facing strong enemies in her.

The machines gradually coming to stop and turns around to face the team 7. One of it opens fire with multiple of energy beams toward to where they are standing in order to separate them.

Another one acts as support by scanning the area to reveal the hidden opponents. So that the other one will force him/her out of their cover with its laser.

The last one's aiming for whoever has their guards down to catch them with extended arms. And the victim turns out to be Sakura, who is spotted having her back wide open because she's too focus on helping Naruto to find a place to hide. At result, she's gotten pinched onto a tree by its large hand and cannot find a way to get out.

"Sakura!"

Before any one of them can get to her, the robot has already charged its energy and shoots. Its attack hits the bull-eyes causes the target to be destroyed completely. And the next thing they know, both Sakura and Nina have stood right behind Sasuke and Naruto. With Sakura lying safely inside Nina's arms, still shutting her eyes and cowering.

They see the robotic arm which is holding Sakura's has now been sliced apart and falls onto the floor. As for the robot that keeps Nina as hostage, it has already been cut into pieces and explodes itself into bits.

"Took you long enough." Sasuke let out a sigh of relief once seeing his female teammates are still intact. He notices that Nina has drawn out her twin daggers and decided to fight for real.

"I-I'm alive?!" Sakura holds her face and looks around in confusion, not yet to figure out what just has happened to her. Only some seconds ago, she's being held down and about to be killed by the laser. Now she's standing together with the others, with no injuries or whatever.

 _Nina-chan saved me? But how?_ Sakura soon realizes that she's still lying on Nina's arms, her eyes widened both in awe and confusion when seeing the girl's burning in some kind of red aura they've never seen before. And it's not until her teammate collapses out of exhaustion, dragging her falling along onto the ground that Sakura's able to snap out of her shock.

"Nina-chan!"

"I'm... fine." Nina assures her, despite still struggling to get up and can barely breathe. That aura of hers has quickly faded away but her body's temperature is still higher than normal.

"What is... going on?!"

Naruto's frozen at his spot, not believing in what he has just seen. And Sasuke approaches the boy to snap him out of his fantasy. Also telling him to stop trying to understand something too ridiculous since it may wrecks his brain. Much to the boy's distress.

 _"That Nina girl... you better not get too close to her, Naruto. She may not be the person who you think she is."_

 _Could it be that this was what he meant?_ Naruto's teeth cringe once being hit by the Uchiha's nonsense words from back then, only to get annoyed even more when it's Sasuke who was the first one to notice something odd about Nina and talked to him about it, out of all people.

"Had you known about this?"

He turns to ask him, recalling to Sasuke's annoying smug face when they first witnessing Nina using her hidden power. And the Uchiha simply shrugs in response.

"I only saw her tried it once. But trust me, I'm pretty much as clueless as you."

Unsettling to find out that Nina has been keeping such secret away from him for so long despite going through so many things together in the past, Naruto's expression gradually turns solemn. And as much as Naruto wants to confront her about it. However right now is obviously not the time, since there are still two of those killing machines waiting for them up ahead.

"Alright, I believe you know how to deal with those things?"

Pulling out more Shuriken from his pocket, Sasuke asks her. Somehow Nina's a little hesitate to answer before nodding to him.

"But Nina-chan, do you know why they're after you?"

Sakura's quite curious about the reason behind her sudden capture by the strange enemies, as it may have something to do with Konoha's situation. However the girl shakes her head in response, refusing to provide them any more info. "I'm sorry but... it's complicated."

"Then hurry up and tell us how to get rid them already." Seeing those robots have shape-shifted their arms into long blades and prepare to engage in battle again, Sasuke points at them and urges her to present the plan.

Soon, they're told to attack with everything they can. Tatjutsu, Ninjutsu, whatever that is used to hurt living being will be able to deal damage with them.

*The more they're getting hit, the better*

Once those things received a good amount of damage. Their cores, which are suppose to be placed hidden in the middle of their bodies and provide energy for them to move around, will be revealed. After that, all they have to do is destroy the core and those things will stop malfunctioning.

Or they can simply do what she did earlier, eliminating the robot completely by slicing it into pieces of junk. This is the quickest way to get rid of them but it's unlikely to happen with their abilities at the moment.

"I'm sorry but you guys are on your own in this fight."

Therefore Nina apologizes for not being able to join them for the big battle. That attack from earlier has drained what's left of her Ki, which is still replenishing from Kibutsuji incident, and leaving her in a serious vulnerable state. So she has no choice but to hide in the shadow and support them with her knowledge.

"Let me get you to somewhere safe first."

Sakura offers to stay behind to protect her since the girl's pretty much temporary immobilized, but Nina urges Sakura to helps the others instead. Assuring her that she will be fine since the robot aren't programmed to harm her. If possible they need her to stay alive and well in order to be experimented successfully.

"Alright, let's do this!"

Once making sure that everyone's ready, team 7 charges forward.

As usual, Naruto's first and main attack is to shower his opponents with clones and holding them down. Sasuke shows off with his skillful Shurikenjutsu and Tatjutsu, and casting Katon whenever possible. Sakura also sneaks in to distract the enemies, preventing them from landing any deadly laser on her teammates and throwing surprise attacks with them from time to time.

"Watch out, Naruto! Their eyes are programmed with abilities to deal with Shinobi's Bunshin technique." Nina quickly alerts Naruto when she sees him getting too far ahead of himself.

 _Naruto has been oddly silent, it feels as if he's not being himself right now._ Nina frowns as she catches Naruto making unnecessary mistakes too often. It seems that the boy's too deep in his thoughts to focus on dealing damage. And that's definitely not a good sign.

Both Sasuke and Sakura have also notices the changes in him, but at the moment Sasuke's too busy with the machine to deal with him. So it's have to be Sakura's job to step in.

Slowly and steady, she waits for the right moment to move and once catching the enemy has turned its head away, Sakura dashes to where the real Naruto's standing and almost startles the boy off his feet.

"What are you-"

Not going to let Naruto finishes asking, Sakura jumps immediately into the point since they have no time to waste for a conversation.

"I know that you're upset because of Nina keeping secret from us."

And the moment she mentions their teammate's name, his serious expression once again showed and the grips on his Kunai tightened up.

"But I believe that she has her own reason to do so. And it's definitely not because she doesn't consider us as her friends. I mean, Nina-chan has almost risked her life saving me, hasn't she?"

Sakura states to continue believing in Nina and in hope he that will too, sharing the same feeling as hers. "You can ask Nina-chan about it later. But for now let's stay focus. Okay?"

While listening to Sakura's words, Naruto's eyes moves from Nina's hiding spot, seeing that despite not being in any condition for combats, Nina still standing tall watching their every move and prepare to do anything she can to support them.

Knowing her, Naruto's already imagined that Nina would jump out of her cover in any moment to fight in case of things going out of their hands.

 _Is that still not enough to prove how much she care for you?_

His heart throbs by the thought, slowly realizing how much of a fool he's been acting. "You're right..."

Suddenly Naruto brighten up and nods to her. Much to Sakura's relief. Even though she doesn't know what's running inside his mind right now, at least its good to know that he's finally be able to get his head into the game.

Quickly, Naruto increases his clone amount and jumps into the battle to aid Sasuke, who are almost running out of breath due to having to keep the robots at bay by himself. Sakura too, joins the fight right after and the three of them face their enemies head on, not forgetting to work together as a team.

Everything's going smoothly and going according to plan, until the one-armed robot suddenly shape-shifting its blade into a high-tech gun and reveals a medium size tank containing green liquid attached behind its back. Instantly figure out its intention, Nina shouts.

"It's aiming at you, Naruto! Get out of there!"

As soon as she's done talking, the machine shoots a huge ball of green colored liquid toward to Naruto. Luckily, he summons his clone in mid air just in time to push himself out of the way and successfully dodges the upcoming hit.

"What the heck is that?!"

Naruto quickly regains his balance on the ground and gasps, watching his clone struggling within something look similar to green snort before him. A couple of seconds later, Naruto's clone dissipate while the liquid dissolves, leaving a hole about a human size on the ground.

"Melt-everything-gel, that's what we used to call it."

She explains and they all raise an eyebrow at the cringe-worthy name, "I know that sounds ridiculous but that exactly what it does. That gel will eat you up within seconds if you let any of them touch you."

As everyone's listening to her carefully word by word. She continues, even smirking.

"To think that there's a ranged type within the group. Considering this is our luck."

Still, none of them is able to comprehend her nonsense talk, only to get even more confused.

"There isn't much time to explain bits by bits but this gel is our ticket to do a one hit kill to that robot. It's much more convenient than the old-fashioned way by beating them up senselessly."

And they need to act fast because the other one, which is now identified as a melee type, has also revealed its secret weapon. It's a running round saw blade that equipped on both arms and they are as big as a human's torso.

Except it doesn't stay defensive like last time but dashes forward, destroying Naruto clones getting in its path by slashing their bodies while making its way toward to the real one, who is staying the furthest away from the fake Naruto.

It happens too fast for Naruto to react and Sasuke has no choice but to intervene. However the robot has countered his action by detaching one of the running saw blade on its arm and throwing it at him.

Luckily Sasuke's reaction is fast enough to dodge it while in mid air, twice, as the weapon's also acted as a boomerang and returned to its owner arm after being sent flying away.

When it's only a few steps away from getting to Naruto, Nina summons her clone to jump in between them to protect him. Seeing her, the machine halts for a mere second to scan her body before proceed slicing her apart. Saving enough time for Naruto to snap out from his shock and makes his escape by jumping onto the tree branch up above.

"This trick won't work on them second time." Nina informs her teammates. "Sasuke and Naruto, I need you two to keep that saw blade one busy, can you guys do that?"

After seeing them nod their heads to her, she then call out to Sakura, who is standing nearby watching for any strange movement from the ranged type robot. Hearing her voice, Sakura quickly approaches Nina's spot inside the bushes but still keeping an eye on it.

"Sakura, do you see those long tubes connecting to the back of gun-carry one? I need you to cut them apart for me."

Pointing at the one-armed target, Nina instructs her to initiate a sneak attack on it but Sakura seems somewhat wary about this idea, "Those things look tough, are you sure that our simple Kunai will work?"

She then hands Sakura one of her custom made daggers, which is surprisingly light enough for her to use. Not forgetting to remind her to avoid being touched by the gel from the container.

"Since this one has yet to analyze my clone, I will distract it while you find a way to get behind, okay?"

Sakura nods and holds the dagger tightly, watching Nina casting Bunshin no Jutsu with heavily trembling hands. Soon another clone of Nina appears standing right beside her and she gulps a big chump of breath down her throat. Their heavy tension is slowly eating Sakura from inside out by having to carry such sudden responsibility.

Right now they only have one chance to do a one hit K.O and if she blows it up, it'll be over for them.

"Are you ready?"

Therefore on the count of three, both Sakura and Nina's clone charges forward. While Nina stands in front of the ranged type to act as a bait, Sakura takes the chance to quietly gets behind its back.

Instantly notices odd movements from behind, the robot spins its head 180 degrees and finds Sakura when she's only a few steps away.

It charges for the laser attack with its eye and aims at her. Too late to run away, Sakura speeds up and make a long jump. Slashing the two long tubes, which are connecting to the gel container sitting on its back, apart within seconds and falls forward, doing a few spins on the ground before finally stop and gasping for air.

As expected, the green gel gushes out from the container through the broken tubes and completely eating up its legs in a blink of the eye. As the machine's struggling on the floor, the liquid quickly crawls toward to the body, finally reaching the core hiding deep inside and causes the robot to self-destruct right at the spot.

That attack just now had also gotten a few drops of gel on Nina's dagger and damaged its sharp edge. But at least Sakura didn't get hit by any. So it's considered a win for them.

"Yes!" Sakura cheers for her victory and Nina gives her a thumb up for doing a good job. Both Naruto and Sasuke have noticed their success due to the loud noises nearby.

That means... There's only one left to go!


	14. Chapter 14

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 14

* * *

Being the only one left standing, the melee-type robot has become more aggressive than before and begins to chase after anyone in sight. Utilizing any weapon it possesses in order to bring them down. The way it changes from offensive mode to defensive mode and vice versa is so perfect that no one can get near or find its weakness.

As their stamina are running low from all the dodging and running, the team 7 is starting to get nervous.

"H-Hey, any plan for this one yet?"

Therefore Naruto asks his teammates and they look at each other, completely clueless, before turning to Nina. There, they still seeing her squeezing her brain out to find a proper solution.

 _Damn... Now that I think about it. Instead of destroying the ranged type first, using its gel attack to get rid of the melee-type then doing so would have made our fight so much easier._

Nina's teeth cringed after thoroughly calculating their situation. Regretting for having made such hasty decision for the team without giving any further thought. _I guess there is no choice but to..._

"Guys, I still have enough energy to do some normal attack."

Nina suggests to handle the last one single-handed, assuring them that the robot will withdraw the chain saw if she approaches it personally.

"No way! That's too dangerous. I'm not letting you go in there alone!"

However Naruto dismisses the idea instantly, with his reason for not trusting their enemy to strictly follow the rule 24/7. And the others seem to agree with him that it maybe too much for Nina to handle the enemy all by herself right now.

"I also believe that is suicidal. I mean, you can barely walk straight. Nina-chan."

Sakura asks Nina to reconsider her decision but sadly, there is not enough time to do so. Because that robot isn't going to sit in one place waiting for them draw out to a good plan to defeat it.

In the end they've come to conclusion to act as a team. With Nina going up front and the others at the back to act as supporters.

"Is everyone good?"

And on the count of three, everyone charges forward.

As expected, the robot withdraws its saw blade the moment Nina gets near. Using that as an advantage, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura jump forward to hold its limbs so that Nina can aim and strike without difficulties.

When Nina's dagger is coming close however, the robot does a 360 degrees spin with its upper body and hits everyone out of the way to protect itself.

At result, Both Nina and Naruto are sent flying and slam into a tree. Sasuke lands onto the ground and rolling a few more rounds before finally able to stop himself from going any further. While Sakura falls onto the bushes far away and faints in progress.

"Sakura, are you okay?"

Nina's a few steps away from where Sakura's lying so she crawls toward to check on her. Luckily, the girl isn't in critical condition. Only receives several scratches on her skin and clothes because of the branches.

"Ouch... That's hurt."

Naruto groans out of pain and tries to get up, suddenly his hand touches something metallic lying next to him and cause it to emits a *Beep* sound. Causing him to jump in surprise.

"W-What the heck?!"

Paranoid by the sudden movement and loud mechanical noises, Naruto quickly hide himself behind a tree for protection. After spending almost half a minute making sure everything's safe, he steps out of his cover to look for the source of that strange sound and notices the robotic arm from earlier.

 _Hey, isn't this belong to the one that has its arm cut off by Nina?_

Instead right now it's turned into a sturdy looking long-blade, which those machines have used in attempts of cutting them into pieces back from the beginning.

"What are you standing like an idiot for?"

Getting curious about what Naruto's been staring at for so long, Sasuke approaches him to have a look and upon seeing the weapon lying on the ground, he instantly figures out what his friend is trying to do.

"Hey, Sasuke. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Right now the killing machine is searching for them by scanning every corner with laser. Worry about her friend's life, Nina's trying to drag Sakura to a safer place. Though they won't be able to get much further than they are now since Nina's legs are injured due to the impact from earlier.

Then suddenly, Nina hears Naruto shouting and his footsteps from afar.

"Nina-chan! All we need to do is smash its core, right?!"

Confused, she turns around to see Naruto and Sasuke, together holding a giant blade in their arms and charging with all their might toward to where the robot is standing. Evading the enemy's energy beam attacks coming at them and when they're able to get near. The robot tries to cut them with the round saw blades attached in both hands.

Immediately, both of them crouch to dodge the upcoming blade aiming for their necks and thrust the blade forward. Stabbing it at the middle of its body, through burning core placed inside and shatters it into pieces. Then they both jump out of the way, watching their enemy self-destruct at the spot.

"Good job!"

Needless to say Nina's amazed by their incredible team work, she cheers for their victory as the boys gather at her hiding place. Once arrived, Naruto's greatly concerned once seeing Sakura's lying next to her, unconscious.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she will wake up soon."

Naruto calms down after being assured and takes a seat on the ground. Trying to catch some breath after a stressful battle while Sasuke remains standing.

"Don't you think it's time for you to tell us what is going on?"

Now that they've stepped too deep into this mess, to the point almost risking their lives to rescue her. Therefore providing info about it would be the least thing she can do for them.

Only then Nina finally opens her lips to explain. "As you guys have already seen, I am their primary target. But the reason is still unknown to me."

Soon they're informed that those robots come from the same place as hers. Somewhere really far away from here, far out of reach to anyone. But thanks to their owner possessing high level of technology, it can be covered easily.

By using a quick transport device that they have created to get them to anywhere they want. And that is the black hole which everyone has seen earlier.

"I have almost to no memory about my past. Best I can remember is that I was adopted by Ryu nii-sama at eight years old. And I started living with him and the others ever since."

Nina apologizes for not capable of providing any more details. Though Naruto insists that Nina's done her best and she should not to stress it. Since there's still a lot of time for them to get to know more about each other, and if possible, he would like to help Nina to discover the truth with her someday.

Sasuke doesn't say much in this but he seems willingly to follow with Naruto's long term plan. Also not forgetting to comment about the whole thing better be worthy of his time. Although Sakura has yet to awake to be able to express her opinion but they both are quite confident that she's going to join as well.

However, Nina finds it may not be the case for them. When Chuunin exam is coming close and dragging a few hundred of dramas along with it.

 _Everyone from then on will figures out their purpose and will have to focus on their own paths. That's why I do not want to become a hindrance to them.  
_

Though she can hold onto her plan until the story to come to an end to ask for help. But Nina doubts that she will have enough patience to wait until then...

"Thank you, Naruto, Sasuke." Still, Nina's grateful and thanks them for their kindness.

As today's story is settled, for now. The only thing left is go home to get some rest, but bringing Sakura home while still being unconscious will draw unnecessary attention from others, they have no choice but to wait until she's awake to get inside the village.

However Sasuke insists them to carry her home. Cause there's a chance that Sakura will wake up soon. And if she doesn't, they can wait outside of the village's gate as it's still safer than staying in the middle of a forest.

It's not until afternoon and half their way toward to Konoha's gate, Sakura regains her consciousness. Finding herself being carried on Naruto's back and having Nina, Sasuke walking by their sides. Everyone is talking to each other, discussing perhaps, and they all look quite worn out.

As Sakura's about to call them, she hears Sasuke's voice. And he seems to be asking Nina about something.

"It's not just consuming Ki, is it?"

A little lost by his question at first but Sakura quickly catches up with their ongoing topics. She glances at Nina and sees the girl nods in response.

"You're right, it isn't."

Figures that she can no longer hide from them, Nina confesses. "I truly do not know what this power is about, or how I get it in the first place."

All she knows that once activating, it enhances all her senses and abilities greatly, double or triple. Perhaps even more if she's willing to give it all.

"However, it comes with a price."

Which is that her Ki will be emptied within seconds once using, just as they have witnessed. If going over limit, this technique will consume her stamina as replacement and lastly, her own life.

"Life?!"

Everyone's shocked. And they're starting to figure out why Nina's become extremely weak after using that power. It must have gotten to second stage and eaten up most of her stamina. Leaving Nina in a temporary immobilized state. Her body's temperature reaches abnormally high during the progress is also considered a side effect.

"Still, using your own life as a source of power?!" Naruto's the first one voice out his objection about this crazy technique. "That's too much! You have to get rid of it!"

However Nina refuses to do so. "Impossible, I cannot get rid of something that is already a part of me."

From the beginning Nina has felt that the more she's abusing her power, the closer she is to understand it. And if she can figures out how it works and why it exist in her body, that means there will be hope in searching for her origins. _Just how can I let such good opportunity slip away?_

"I agree with Naruto about that technique is dangerous. Nina-chan."

Sakura also expresses her concern that Nina's taking her life too lightly. However, it seems that her words don't reach to Nina's heart but going through an ear to another. And from that moment, they realize that Nina becomes extremely stubborn when her special power is involved.

* * *

Once reaching to the Konoha's gate, Nina asked them to keep what happened today as a secret. Expressing her concern about not fancy gaining more complicated troubles than she already had.

Going through the gate, team 7 acted as normal as they could to prevent gaining any attention from the guards. Luckily Kakashi was still nowhere in sight, as it would be one hell of a problem to explain to him why they're injured, also wandering outside of the village on their own without permission.

Since everyone's exhausted and probably overwhelmed by the incident, they decided to part their ways and call it a day. Or so Nina thought how their plan was suppose be.

 **Nina's apartment, Fourth floor.**

"Nina-chan!"

As she's about to open the door to get in, Nina hears Naruto's voice calling for her from behind and she turns around. Seeing the boy is now standing before her.

"I really don't want us to fight because of my affairs. Please, stay out of this. Naruto."

Doesn't wait for him to talk as she clearly knows his reason for coming here, Nina speaks. Also asking him to go home and give it a rest.

"So that you can just jump around risking your life recklessly? That's not going to happen!"

Naruto's raged and knowing his personality, he's not going to give up on persuading her from now on. However that isn't going to make Nina back down, even for a little.

"How I am going use my power is none of your concern, Naruto."

Nina turns away, avoiding eye contact. Because if she looks at him any longer, god knows what more hurtful things she's going to say to him. As the innocent face and those deep blue eyes of his, have already been painted with disappointment and sadness.

However... _Nothing can change my mind or stop me now, not even Ryu, and it's definitely not you. Naruto._

"What do you mean it's none of my concern?! You are my friend and I care for you!"

Naruto's hand clenches into fist. Almost to the point pleading her to reconsider, however it seems that Nina's already made up her mind, from a long time ago.

"...And as a friend, I'm asking you a favor."

Nina says, her voice is as calm as ever as she steps into her room.

"Don't get in my way."

Those are her last words before she closes the door and locks it right before his face, ending their conversation within a heart beat.

* * *

 **The next morning.**

 **Nina's room.**

Still not recover from the last battle, I have no choice but to stay in bed until be able to walk properly again. So it's either crawling or hugging the wall just move around the room to get something I need.

After what happened yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to sleep. Whenever recalling to Naruto's face when he's being told to go away, I couldn't help but feeling guilty. But it's already too late to turn back.

I know that I need to apologize to him, it's just that I don't know when should be ideal. And what I afraid the most is that if Naruto brings that topic up again, which he probably will, we're only going to end up arguing even more.

 _Ugh... What should I do?! If only Momiji is here to give me some advice. Since she's always good at dealing with these kind of stuff._

If only I can create the portal by myself and calling her here to help me solving difficult puzzles. Though I bet if that really happen, Momiji will be so amazed by this world that she can't stop jumping around. Start making friends with everyone or even cooking them food and stuff. Then eventually forget why she's here in the first place.

 _Since Momiji has_ _ _also_ been a fan, loving this series as much as I do._

 _Wait a minute...Portal? Now that reminds me..._ When first activating it back through a weird looking machine at the lab, it's still a prototype and couldn't be controlled probably. And I was quite sure that none of those robots could create a portal by themselves. Not until now...

 _To be honest, I was surprised when seeing them actually creating one. I seriously had no idea._

This is the proof that they've been upgraded, in order to capture me from another dimension and almost turning this world upside down in progress if not being prevented in time.

 _That time, I was lucky that the robot was still function like their old models._

If they become too advanced and their codes are to be changed by whatever reasons. I won't be so sure about being able to keep my own life, talking about protecting others.

Yesterday I had no choice but to destroy the enemies completely without having a moment to look into them. As our situation was too critical and if I didn't act fast, everyone would have been dead by now.

 _Back then, I had hoped that everyone didn't come to rescue me. Not only it's too dangerous for them, but also those robots... they could turn out to be my ticket to go home._

Surely the team 7 was not the one to blame. It was me who's being way too careless. If I didn't mess up and acted alone, things would have turned out so much better. No one would be making a fuss about how I use my power, Naruto and I wouldn't have to fight either.

 _And more importantly, I would have already returned home by now. Instead of sitting here alone regretting the outcome._

Lying on my bed while cleaning the twin daggers, which have gotten quite dirty from the last fight, I let out a sigh. Getting nervous about the gloomy future waiting ahead of me. _My mind is a total big mess and my body isn't really helping either...  
_

Suddenly there are several knocks on my door, interrupting my train of thoughts and seconds later, I hear Sakura's voice. "Nina-chan, we're here to visit. Can we come in?"

"Sure. Come on in."

I response to her call and the doorknob's slowly turned, appearing right behind the wooden door are the three familiar silhouettes. Naruto on the right side of Sakura, who is carrying a fruit basket in her hand, and Sasuke is on her left.

Therefore Sakura puts the basket on the table and since there aren't enough chairs around, they decide to sit on my bed to talk.

As soon as she sees the twin daggers lying in my hand, Sakura asks. Recalling how I always carrying these weapons beside me despite barely using them for anything. Except for yesterday, of course.

"They seem important to you."

I nod in response, admiring the shiny blades before me. "These daggers are a gift from someone very dear to me on my birthday."

Whenever feeling lonely, I always take these daggers out just to stare at them, sometimes for even hours. Cause they reminds me of the happy memories from the past, when I was still enjoying my little carefree life with everyone back home.

And suddenly Sakura lowers her head a little. Apologizing to me for having ruined it in the battle against the robots. "I'm sorry, it's because of me that..."

"It's not your fault. Sakura."

If I minded about the dagger being damaged, I wouldn't have suggested trying it to begin with. Beside, if Sakura wouldn't use the dagger to finish the fight, I would. Sometimes things were bound to happen no matter how much you wanted to avoid it.

"As long as I keep the dagger staying inside the sheath, its blade will heal. Though the progress is quite slow but it's better than nothing."

Therefore I explain that my twin daggers are crafted from a recovery rune which can be found in my town. The name works exactly like how its called, recovering and healing. And both of my daggers along with its sheath are a set.

Everyone's surprised after hearing the story. Sakura's face brighten up almost immediately.

"Really?!"


	15. Chapter 15

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 15

* * *

Sitting beside her, Naruto's also perked up when hearing the good news, as he must have known those daggers hold a special place in Nina's heart.

Knowing him well, it's obvious to Sakura that Naruto's also worried about Nina's feeling. However what she's seeing right now doesn't really add up to it.

Both of them sit as far away as each other as possible, although it's Naruto who has picked his seat at the end of the bed, while Nina's been staying in one place from the beginning.

He doesn't talk much today or being enthusiastic as he's always be either. And Sakura realizes that Nina's acting somewhat awkward, especially toward him. Whenever she speaks up, Naruto will stops talking immediately and vice versa. If their eyes meet, they turn their faces away instantly. And Naruto's posture stiffens up for no reason.

 _I wonder what happened to them._

Sakura's head tilts in thought. And Sasuke, who is standing against the wall next to Nina, has also noticed something abnormal between them.

She has a feeling that the boy's curious, but since this is Uchiha Sasuke, he's not going to bother butting into other people's affairs. Unless it's going to affect him in some way.

Then Sakura sees him glances at her, his eyes movements seem to be telling Sakura to let those two sort things out by themselves. Since having her jumping in would only turn it into a worse mess than it already is.

After an hour or so, everyone decided to leave to give Nina more time to rest. While on their way home together, Naruto mentioned that he had something to do and parted way with them. A few more steps and Sasuke also excused himself, disappeared out of sight.

Unbeknown to them, he's making his way back to Nina's house as there's a several questions about yesterday incident that he wants ask her, in private. And Sasuke figures right now would be a good opportunity to do so.

However once finding out Naruto's also here, instead of stepping in, he hides behind the wall near the windows to wait. Also eavesdropping their conversation in progress.

"Yesterday... I shouldn't have said those things to you. I'm sorry."

And the first thing Sasuke hears is Nina apologizing to Naruto about something, which he has yet to know. Hopefully Naruto will be the one to reveal what it is.

"Despite knowing how dangerous it is, are you going to keep using it?"

Too bad it's not the case as Naruto ignores it completely and starts talking about another topic, Nina's power, which is also fine to him since that's the main reason he's here.

As expected, the girl refuses to gives up on it just like before. Although this time there's an additional requirement that if the team 7 is involved, similar to how things has happened to them at the forest outside of Konoha, she will also not hesitate.

"I do not expect any of you to do the same to me in return. Especially you, Naruto."

"Even if it cost you your own life to protect us?!"

Much to their surprise, Nina nods in response to Naruto's question.

 _Isn't that a bit much for someone who isn't even blood related and only met for no longer than a month?_

Sasuke finds it quite odd while listening to her reason. He starts recalling to the time she's used that power to save him against the bandits for the first time. Wondering whether Nina's being way too kind to strangers or just being plain stupid.

"But why?!"

Baffled by her unwavering determination, Naruto asks her. Hoping that there's a good explanation for this crazy idea she's carrying in her mind.

In Nina's defense, it's obvious that her responsibility is to keep the whole team 7 away from any unidentified threats. As the only thing they have encountered are the robots, but who knows what else the enemies are going to bring up later on.

"It's also because..."

Suddenly Nina looks away, hesitate to speak for a moment.

"You will be the one who lead us to the future, Naruto. Therefore I will not let you sacrifice yourself for my sake, in whatever circumstances."

 _What?!_ Both Sasuke and Naruto are shocked by Nina's confident statement.

Naruto's eyes completely widened and he doesn't know how to react. Usually, he would get pissed off and argue loudly that this is not the time to be joking. However the moment he looks into those determined topaz eyes before him, Naruto can tell that Nina's serious.

Is it because that Nina's taken his words to heart about him always wanting to become the Hokage? Is she believing in him that much?

 _Leading us to the future?! Naruto she said?!_

For a moment Sasuke had seriously thought that Nina had gone crazy. Suddenly out of nowhere claiming that this idiot Naruto would one day become incredibly strong and save everyone's life. _But more importantly, what make her so confident that it's going to happen?_

After a long moment of silence, Nina speaks up again. "Naruto, I don't intend to die just yet, when there's a lot of things out there for me to do. So... I'll be careful, okay?"

"You promise?" Not going to buy it easily, Naruto asks her to stay true to her words and she nods, even offering him a pinky swear, which kids usually do to each other. Only then Naruto's finally be able to relax and returns to his old self.

 _As childish as ever._

Then Naruto remains for a little chit chat. Sensing the atmosphere between them has changed to much positive vibe, Sasuke figures that the two have made up. And after about half an hour later, Naruto finally leaves.

When Naruto has gotten out of sight, it should be the perfect chance for him to step in. However Sasuke no longer feels the needs of doing so.

How strange, there has been something is stirring up inside his chest for a while now. Yet he doesn't know what or who causes it. And the only thing he wants to do right now is to get away from here. As fast as possible.

Around 5:00 PM in the afternoon after his usual training, Sasuke walks home alone and passes by Naruto, who is carrying a take away bowl of Ichiraku ramen and grinning to himself like an idiot.

This is a normal sight of Naruto. Still, it irritates him a lot for some reasons.

* * *

"Huh? What do you want?"

Suddenly out of nowhere the Uchiha appears and gets in his way. And the next thing Naruto knows, they are already standing at the third training ground, facing against each other.

"Bastard! Why the heck do you want to spar at this hour? Can't you just wait till tomorrow?!"

Obviously Naruto's annoyed, as the bowl of ramen he has bought for Nina is about to get cold. And Naruto has no idea why Sasuke's so determined to have a match with him today. To the point almost dragging him here by himself even if he has to.

"Stop asking and just fight."

Sasuke charges forward with multiples of Shuriken in his hands, and Naruto has no choice but to return his favor.

The match starts and gets serious within seconds. At first Naruto thought it's somewhat similar to their match yesterday, when they had to fight for their prides. Except this time the Uchiha doesn't hold back.

Several screams and shouts later, Naruto ends up to be the one lying on the floor. Panting heavily while Sasuke remains standing, hands inside his pockets. Their clothes are messy, faces full of dirt and injuries.

"I win," Therefore the Uchiha declares to his friend and walks away, still hearing Naruto cursing him from behind.

 _Just what exactly... Did she see in this idiot?_

Sasuke cringes by the thought. It feels as if the more he gets to know about Nina, the more he doesn't understand her. Including the fact that she's paying too much unnecessary attention to this bastard.

 _"You will be the one who lead us to the future, Naruto."_

His eyes frowns when recalling to those words. It doesn't make sense to him at all. But then again...

Why did he have to take it so seriously? For what reason did he get all so work up for? And since when did he care about what other people think?

"What are you looking at?" Annoyed when constantly being stared or glared at for no reason, Naruto asks him. Brushes dirt off his ears and gets up, ready to demand for a rematch.

However Sasuke's turned around and walked off. "Nothing much. Ultimate loser."

 _Ultimate loser?_ Naruto's dumbfounded by his new nickname for a moment before finally remember about the bet they've made.

"Hey, bastard! That's not fair! You didn't say anything about it when calling me out here!"

* * *

 **A few days later**

 **In the morning**

Since there's still no response from Kakashi about my withdrawal request, I have to continue playing my role as a member of team 7 and attending missions with them like before.

Once done preparing, I make my way toward to our usual meeting spot for the next mission. The moment I arrive, both Sasuke and Sakura have been here, while Naruto is yet to be seen.

"Ah, Nina-chan."

"Hello, Sakura. You guys sure are punctual."

Sakura greets me immediately, while Sasuke stays as quiet as ever. And somehow he's acting a little off, being much more grumpy than usual.

"Hi, Sasuke."

"..."

"Uh... You okay there?"

"..."

He keeps staring at the floor and doesn't respond to any words I say. It almost feels as if Sasuke's trying to ignore my existence.

I don't recall doing anything upsetting him nowadays. More like cannot since I've been stuck in bed ever since last incident. _Did he eat rotten tomatoes before coming here or something?_

Sakura also receives the same treatment, but not as severe since he replies to her from time to time. It doesn't matter what kind of topic, interesting or not.

Few minutes later, Naruto arrives to the spot. Once seeing Sasuke, both of them instantly exchange glares with each other before turning their heads away. The atmosphere between us grows even more awkward and Sakura too, probably is screaming inside right now.

So I decide to stick with Naruto while waiting for Kakashi. And our conversation soon turns into something about him bragging to become the strongest shinobi or the best Hokage no one has ever seen.

I realize that he's become much more hyped up and arrogant than usual. Perhaps it's because of what I've said to him before. To be honest, I have no regret telling Naruto a little about his fate. As long as Naruto understands that his life is important, for himself and for the sake of this world.

Suddenly, I feel chills running down the back of my neck and notice Sasuke's glaring at us from afar. _Right, I almost forgot about that guy._

No doubt that Sasuke's life and his decisions are also crucial to the future of Konoha. Though I have a good feeling that he will be doing just fine in the future without being told what to do. _Not that he is going to listen to anyone anyway._

Ages later and our lovely mentor finally appears before us, much to our annoyance. The following scenes play exactly the same to the story. Except there's one thing I have yet to understand.

"I'm not going to lose to you!"

For some reasons Naruto and Sasuke are burning strong in fire of passion. _Strange, Zabuza's incident is like ages ago, what are they still competing for?_

 **First mission: Weeding.**

"Hey, Naruto? You may want to be careful with that."

Not wanting Naruto to get into trouble like he would in the story, I warn him beforehand but the boy's too focus on winning against the Uchiha to listen.

Figure that simply saying to him won't work, I decide to help Naruto with his job after finishing mine. And the moment I approach him however, the boy has already plugged out more than half of the area he's in charge with.

 _Oh boy, this is definitely not going to end well..._

Quickly, I ask him to stop working and Naruto looks at me, somewhat confused but obliges anyway. Then I proceed telling him how to distinguish between weeds and herbs. Also carefully showing him which one should be plugged and which not.

"So... Who is the one that need help all the time again?"

Suddenly Sasuke appears right behind us and just have to mock Naruto for his poor performance, because why the hell not.

"I-It's okay, Nina-chan! I can do it myself!"

Thanks to Sasuke's *encouraging words*, Naruto refuses my help without a second thought and returns to his weeding business. And I can see that he's still mindlessly removing the herbs along with the weeds and throws them all into a huge pile next to him. Despite having been told how to his job properly just seconds ago.

"Fine. Just... Slow down and don't plug everything out, okay?"

Hearing so, Naruto gives me a confident thumb up while I groan in annoyance, trying hard not to glare at that damned Sasuke, who is enjoying his easy victory with the usual smug face.

In the end, the result's half as bad as the original but Naruto still get scolded by the owner. At least he doesn't earn any hit to the face, so I guess it's something...

 **Second mission: Collecting trash in the river.**

"Watch your step, okay?"

And the moment I finish talking, the boy trips over a rock and fall into the river. Hopelessly crying for help while being carried away by the strong current.

"Naruto!"

I try to catch him but failed as he's moving too fast. Then I remember at this point of the mission, Sasuke should be jumping out of water to catch Naruto with his Shinobi tools.

However when I turn to him, Sasuke remains at his spot with a basket on his back and a trash tong in his hand. Casually watching his friend getting carried toward to the waterfall up ahead of us.

Without an option, I yell to wake him up. "What are you standing there for?! Help him!"

It's not until Naruto's almost reach to the water below that Sasuke's muscles finally begin to move and save him within seconds. Talk about close call...

 **Third mission: Dog walking.**

Naruto grins widely when seeing me picking a dog that is about the same size as his. Responding to the confused look on both Sakura's and Sasuke's faces, I shrug and pat Naruto by the shoulder.

"Well, I figure that if you're going to be stupid, why not just be stupid together."

Playing it safe too much can be quite boring. Making some changes once in a while isn't going to hurt, or so I thought.

For Naruto's part, he doesn't get offended for being called stupid and actually happy to have someone staying in the same boat with him.

Suddenly Sasuke decides to swap his Chihuahua to something 3x bigger. Shocking us all with his bold move, especially Sakura. And in his defense, Sasuke explains that he wants to try something much more challenging.

As expected, Sasuke's dog and mine follow Naruto's dog footsteps and lead us straight toward to the Trap field. Different from the original that Naruto will be the only one to suffer, this time there will be three of us.

Although it soon turns out to be a competition between Sasuke and Naruto. As whoever triggers the landmine more than the other will be the loser. And sadly, it's Naruto who gets hit the most and become the loser of this round.

* * *

After all the ruckus between Naruto and Sasuke about their unsuccessful teamwork, Kakashi's departure for the meeting with the Third, Sakura's threatening to end Naruto's life for being too annoying. They decide to parts our way to do their own things, however Sasuke stops Nina when she's about to go home.

"Come with me."

"Huh, me? To where?"

Surprised by his sudden request, she points to herself and Sasuke frowns. As if she's just asked something stupid.

"Yes, you. Off to the training ground."

Needless to say Sakura's shocked after hearing his answer. Since this is the first time Sasuke officially asks a girl to train with him, alone. Her expression then turns sour, but doesn't say anything to object. Since she knows the exact reason behind his doing.

It's because Nina's stronger and better in fighting than she does.

Meanwhile Nina's dumbfounded by his ridiculous mood swings. _What's wrong with this Uchiha? First he treated me like air and now asking me to come training with him_.

"Why me? There's Sakura, you know?"

Nina tries to push the *heavy responsibility* into Sakura's hands. Also reminding him that she will not going to use her special power in friendly matches. Hoping that Sasuke will somehow change his mind and pick Sakura instead.

"Because her abilities are even lower than Naruto."

Sasuke answers bluntly, stabbing Sakura's ego with his piercing words and urges Nina to get going. "Hurry up. I don't have all day."

Disheartened, Sakura turns around and goes home. While Nina's still standing there, debating whether she should follow him or not.

 _Not that I mind about the whole training things but... If we use a whole day to train together, then Sasuke will miss his chance of meeting Gaara and end up messing the whole plot. So I definitely cannot let that happens._

After spending a few minutes thinking over, Nina refuses to come along and uses Naruto as an excuse. Much to Sasuke's irritation.

"Sorry, I can't go with you. I've already promised to treat Naruto ramen today."

 _Again with Naruto..._ Figures that he cannot change her mind whenever Naruto's involved, Sasuke clicks his tongue and walks off.

"Fine, whatever."

* * *

When I return to our old spot, Sakura has already beaten Naruto and Konohamaru to pulps. Now she's chasing them down for calling her having big forehead and lacking of feminine.

And what's coming has to come, Konohamaru bumps into Kankuro and falls.

Irritated by the sight of kids, Kankuro grabs the boy by his scarf and pulls him up. Threatening him and insulting us at the same time. His rude speeches and actions, of course, angers Naruto greatly.

"Hey! If you don't let go of him, you're going to get it from me! You idiot!"

Afraid that Naruto's provocation will end up having us all killed, Sakura quickly grabs him by the head to shut his mouth. "You're the idiot one! Don't just provoke him!"

"What should we do, Nina-chan?"

Sakura whispers to me, the girl seems to be quite nervous after witnessing the strange technique he uses on Naruto.

And I ensure her that Konohamaru will be fine. Sakura looks confused by my answer at first but decides to trust me anyway.

"We already apologized to you, didn't we? How about letting the boy go and we will pretend none of this has happened."

I step in and ask everyone to calm down, also reminding the sand shinobi that they literally gain nothing if picking a fight with the leaf shinobi inside their base. However Kankuro's too stubborn to listen to logic, no, it's more like he actually enjoys being the bully here.

 _This asshole. If it wasn't for the plot convenience, I would have beaten him to pulps._

To be honest, I'm more concern about Gaara who is lurking extremely nearby than these harmless threats from Kankuro. Still, it's hard to turn a blind eye to the fact that there's a boy being held hostage right in front of your eyes. _Plus this is Konohamaru, not some unknown NPC you usually pass by on the street._

"How about I take his place? You can hit me instead of him."

"Eh?!"

Everyone's shocked by my sudden offer. Except for Kankuro, who is smirking and seems to be taken interested in my idiotic heroic act.

"Are you serious? If you dodge it, I will double the amount. For you and the boy."

He asks me again to confirm my words as I step forward to face him. Seeing me nod in response, Kankuro then cracks his fingers, threatening us that he beat Konhamaru as well if I break the rule.

"Fine by me. And you have to let Konohamaru go after this." Therefore I demand a fair trade, waiting for Kankuro to finish thinking over while Konohamaru's cowering next to him.

"It's a deal."

Seconds later Kankuro begins and aiming straight at my noses, attempt to break them and send me flying away in one hit. As his fist is about to reach to my face however, I block him with my hand. And Kankuro's smug expression changes into different kind of shades before stopping at the furious one. Struggling to set his hand free from my grip.

Just my luck that Kankuro happens to be weak against close-range combat, which I'm certainly not. And that means in this battle, I have the advantage.

"Don't get so angry. From the start you never state that I'm not allowed to defend myself."

I didn't dodge any hit, meaning I hadn't broken his rule. Not my fault that Kankuro overlooked that aspect in our agreements. "Now release Konohamaru, as you promised."

"Yeah! She's right, you know!" Naruto and the others cheer for me from behind.

"You lost, Kankuro. Hurry up and be done with it. You're wasting our time." Temari chimes in, urging her brother to finish his silly game and get going before Gaara gets angry with them.

Seeing Kankuro's fuming in shame, I let go of his hand and without a choice, he has to set Konohamaru free as agreed.

"There, have your damned brat back!"

Still, he must releases his anger on us by grabbing Konohamaru and throwing him away, toward to where the others are standing. Luckily, Naruto runs forward to catch him before he lands with his head.

"Damn you...!"

Angered by how the sand shinobi is treating his little friend, Naruto's about to lunge at Kankuro before I grab him by his arm to stop him.

"Quit it, Naruto. We've had enough."

Not wanting to engage in any more trouble, I whisper to him and drag Naruto back to our side. And from behind, I hear Temari calling for her brother.

"Hey, Kankuro."

Following it is Kankuro saying something to himself.

"I never state that it has to be one hit."

Suddenly a small piece of rock flying out of nowhere and hits Kankuro's fist, which is about to reach to my face the moment I turn around to check.

 _This jerk, he's not going to give up, is he?_

Irritated by his foul attitude, I frown, watching Kankuro holding his hand in pain. Then we hear Sasuke's voice from above.

"What do you think you are doing in another's village? Get lost."

After Sasuke making his dramatic appearance, Gaara also appears to stop Kankuro from revealing his secret weapon to us before the real battle begins.

Skipping through the reasoning and threatening between the brothers, Gaara and Sasuke staring into each other's soul. We then have the sand shinobi siblings explaining us about their reason for coming to Konoha, the Chuunin exam, which we've totally forgotten about thanks to all the chaos from days ago.

Soon Gaara leads his team away, not forgetting to exchange his name with Sasuke before leaving. Of course the sound shinobi, team Dosu, is here and watching us from above as expected.

And that means only a few days left until Sasuke receives his cursed seal and Konoha's invasion. _I should be getting myself ready since it's going to be a tough battle._

"Is there something on my neck?"

If it wasn't for Sasuke saying, I wouldn't have realized that my eyes had been gluing at a specific spot, where the mark would be, on his neck.

"No-Nothing! I'm going home now, see you guys later!"

Embarrassed, I bid them goodbye and walk straight home. Almost forgetting about my promise to treat Naruto ramen today...

* * *

 **Next morning**

"Hold on, why are there only three applications? Who isn't coming?"

Naruto's confused when seeing three papers in Kakashi's hand. As the team 7 contains four members total.

"That would be me."

And Nina's the one who responses to his question, putting her hand up. "I won't be joining this year Chuunin exam."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

* * *

 **Last night at Nina's room.**

"I know, one needs to finish at least eight missions. And it's already too late for me."

That was Nina response after hearing the news from Kakashi about not being nominated as a Chuunin examinee.

Standing by the windows Kakashi nodded, expected that the girl would be disappointed and expressed her frustration whether by remaining silent, whining, throwing tantrum or even trying to negotiate with him, like anybody would in this situation.

However Nina acted completely nonchalant and simply shrugged it off. As if she didn't want to be apart of the exam to begin with.

"You're right. I didn't want to participate in the Chuunin exam, even for one bit."

As if having read his mind, Nina spoke. "Simply because I'm not ready for it. Both physically and mentally."

"Is that so." He said, closing the book in his hand. _Good, at least she knew where she stood._

It's not that the girl had any choice to begin with, rules are rules. Granted, it made things easier for him when she's being this obedient.

..

...

"Kakashi, the reason I'm calling you here today is because of this."

Hiruzen said, presenting a sealed scroll lying on the table before him. The thing even had his name tag on it, indicating that mission's especially made for him. Opening the scroll and reading the words written inside, Kakashi noticed that it's a stealth mission.

Therefore Kakashi would be in charge of this subject called N, whom he presumed to be Nina. And he would be keeping watch of its growth, as well as guarding its life. Then at the end gathering all of his work into a report, which would be submitted to the Hokage once every three months and consisted of anything about the subject that can be recorded.

The mission has no ranking, no time limit and he will be provided monthly with Ryo, also necessary items to support completing the job.

"A long term side mission?"

Confused by the odd request, Kakashi asked the man sitting before him. As pretty much all of the job which was listed here had already been in progress for weeks. _Why wait until now to turn them into a mission? And for what purpose?_

In the beginning, it wasn't their plan to keep her in Konoha longer than a month or two. As the Chuunin exam was only an excuse to drag her into action in order measure her abilities, to make sure that she's not a threat.

"Indeed. And you would be the most suitable one to handle it."

After reading several reports about the girl that Kakashi had given to him, Hiruzen thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea to let Nina stay at the village, as a normal citizen.

He's about to loosen up the investigation and left the job to a lower rank to take care of. So that Kakashi would have free time to dedicate himself into more important tasks.

Until Kakashi's suggestion happened the other day, it gave him a feeling that the Jounin had collected something interesting from the mysterious girl.

"Since it's you who offer to extend her time in Konoha, Kakashi. I believe you must have several ideas in your mind."

No doubt that it's going to take a while to solve this puzzle and he trusted that Kakashi would do the job well. Another reason to make this into an official mission was so that Kakashi would actually get paid for his work instead of being a freelancer.

...

..

 _But was that really all?_ Kakashi wondered, but he didn't have any reason or clue to doubt the Hokage's motives. In the end he could only rely on time, and perhaps tons of efforts, to help him clearing these confusions.

"Are you okay there, sensei?"

Seeing Kakashi had been spacing out for a while, Nina called him and his focus finally returned to her. As if just having awoken from a daydream, Kakashi snapped his finger.

"Right. I believe you still owe me some explanations."

Kakashi reminded Nina about the deal they had made on that day. As he had fulfilled her requests just as she had asked, it's only a matter of time for her to return the favor. And Nina gladly did so, without a moment of hesitation.

"Well, how should I explain this. You can say that we store... records about your world."

 _Our world?_ Kakashi's somewhat curious about the way she addressed this place. However, that topic had to wait since there were other important things that needed to be discussed.

"How did they gain those info?"

It's not a surprise if Konoha had enemies watching them from every corner. But for a single girl like her to know this much of details, there could be a spy working right under their noses the whole time.

Plus, Nina never once stated that she's the only one to know about their secrets, so he couldn't ignore the possibility that many more others like her existed and planning an invasion to this place.

"Beats me."

Nina shrugged in response. Admitting to him that she's not the one behind any of those writings, which had been there way before she knew about their existence, and Nina's simply nothing but an observer. Yet how she had gotten her hands onto the records was still a mystery.

 _Writings? Does that mean the records are stored in scrolls? They can't be common, can they?_ His eye sharpened at the thought.

"Could you tell me who make those records?"

The question slipped out of his tongue, and Kakashi didn't expect her to actually answer. As a single name could reveal a huge chunks of information for them if they look into it. However Nina didn't seem to care about confidentiality and said it anyway.

"Kishimoto Masashi."

Unfortunately that didn't ring any bell to him. And just like last time, she didn't have anything to backup whether it's a made up character or not. "Is this Kishimoto also a shinobi? Do you know him in person?"

"Maybe." It's rather a short and uninformative reply, then suddenly Nina snickered to herself.

"And how far exactly have you studied about us."

Ignoring her strange reaction, Kakashi continued.

"Way farther than you can ever imagine?"

Nina responded in a playful tone and refused to explain to him in details. For a moment Kakashi thought she's only playing around with him, yet his instinct's telling him that there's a tint of seriousness lying within that sentence.

"Had the records been finished?"

The girl shook her head.

"How much did you learn from those?"

Nina looked at him for a little while before answering. And he noticed that Nina's reading his expressions very carefully and picking her words according to them. "Enough to get myself out of troubles."

"Beside what happened to Rin and Sharingan. What else do you know?"

Therefore mostly what she provided him was common info, except for one thing about Naruto being the son of Yondaime Hokage and having a giant-ass fox, which almost destroyed the whole village around twelve years ago, sealed inside him by his parents _.  
_

 _This giant-ass fox she mentioned must be the Kyuubi._ Kakashi's sweat dropped at her interesting verbal choice. "Were you here when that disaster took place?"

"No, I would be dead by now if I was."

Nina stated like it's an obvious fact. And before Kakashi could ask her anything further, he heard her saying. "I know that you're dissatisfied by the amount of info I give you, however, I cannot tell you more."

"Why? No one is here to stop you from doing so."

Kakashi asked, clearly knew that what she had revealed to him was just a drop in the ocean.

"But what's the fun in there, right? Some stuff are better off not knowing until you encounter it. I'm sure you have realized that too."

In the end Nina swiftly mentioned an old friend's arrival. She didn't indicate who or when specifically, and Kakashi wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad sign.

* * *

Team 7 comes to understand after hearing Kakashi's explanation about my case. Surprisingly this time Naruto becomes quite understanding and doesn't make a fuss. While Sasuke, well, he doesn't seem to care whether I'm going to join or not.

Sakura then suggests me to ask the Third Hokage for a spot in the Chuunin exam. Believing that they will make an exception for me since I'm a special case.

"That's the point, Sakura. I don't want to be treated differently in a public activity."

I object the idea instantly, since it's too troublesome and definitely not worth the effort for something that is going to fail miserably. And I definitely cannot tell them that the test is only be taken by teams of three.

Once our discussion over, I walk home with Naruto.

"What's wrong, you look like you've been wanting to say something." After a while Naruto asks me.

That's because I'm stuck within his constantly bragging about winning against the strong guys in the tournament that cannot find a chance to speak.

"Well, I was just surprised that you would support my decision."

Hearing so, his happy-go-lucky expression soon withers. Naruto then stares at the paper in his hand for a moment before replying to me.

"I mean, the less you engage in battle, the less chance for you to use _that_ , right?"

Naruto expresses his concern about me abusing the dangerous technique, admitting that it's actually not a bad idea if I don't participate in the Chuunin exam.

"It doesn't matter whether you're a shinobi or not, I will stay with you regardless."

Naruto states and asks me to restraint from using that power in any way, saying that he will definitely get stronger for both of us. So that I don't have to rely on such dangerous technique to fight difficult battles ever again.

And as much as I appreciate his kindness, his ideal sounds impossible. I won't deny the fact that he will become powerful in the future, but that time takes too long to come and I refuse to sit in one place waiting until then. Plus I don't intend to stay here forever.

 _I have to act fast or I will miss my change of returning home._

 **Next morning.**

"Don't tell me you're scared."

While on my way toward to the market, I bump into Sasuke. And out of the blue he mentions the Chuunin exam, stating that Sakura's right about not being too late to ask the Hokage and my reason for not participating is because of something else.

 _Again, acting like he didn't care and then surprise me with his opposite action._

"Will you believe me if I say yes?"

My question causes him to frown, then seconds later he answers no. It's quite shocking to find that the Uchiha thinking of me so highly. Too bad for him however, he has put his trust in a wrong place.

"It's true, I am terrified."

Firstly, there will be Orochimaru, one of Konohagakure's legendary Sannin and Gaara, jinchuuriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku. The Forest of Death is like a giant mess and there's no way I'm going to get myself involve in.

Secondly, I do not want to see myself screw up the plot in some way. As in sometimes my emotions may kicks in so hard that I end up doing crazy things which I am not suppose to do. Like going solo against Orochimaru to save my comrades (only to get killed) for example...

And lastly, well, somewhere deep in my heart I really don't want to see them suffer. Even though already known how bad it is by watching anime and reading manga, I'm sure going through that scene again with my own two eyes would make it even more horrendous.

I maybe a coward for not coming along to help them but... This Chuunin exam is their tests, and they have to fight it on their own. In order to mature into talented shinobi in the future.

"You won't know how bad the test is until you try."

Sasuke recalls that all of us have gone through much worse situations than a single promotion exam. Plus this is only Chuunin, not even Jounin level. And stating that I may have been being too pessimistic.

Oh how I wish it was that simple. "I'm not as strong as you think I am, Sasuke."

I notice his eye twitches a little after hearing that sentence, then suddenly Sasuke snickers as if having heard a joke. "Say the one that almost smashed my head to the ground."

 _Damn it._ I cringe hard by his counter while being forcefully recalled to our match last time. Back when I got caught in the heat of the moment and accidentally hit him with all my might.

"What's the point in saying all of this anyway? Are you trying to make me join the exam or something?"

"Why would I? The test's an individual choice, having you participate won't gain me any benefit."

And Sasuke tilts his head, once again acting like I've just said something stupid.

"Right..." I almost forget that we've just been informed by Kakashi that the test doesn't involve in any teamwork.

After hearing the news that everyone would be taking the test separately, team 7 had thought that their efforts practicing as a team to prepare for it had gone to waste. In fact it's actually not, but I couldn't tell them the truth and had no choice but to stay silent till the end.

 **The following day.**

Sakura asked me to join her for some ice cream at a shop nearby, there she told me about her strange encounter with a mysterious shinobi, probably Iruka in disguise, and that he had used Genjutsu on her to test whether she's ready for the Chuunin exam. In the end Sakura passed his test, but she still found herself not ready for it however.

"I'm sure you would be a better candidate than me, Nina-chan."

Watching the people walking on the street through the glass window, Sakura sighs. No longer hide her worries of being lack of self-esteem and starts complaining of not being able to catch up to Naruto or Sasuke.

"It's the otherwise actually."

And I would be lying if admitting that her concerns are wrong. Because at this point of the story, Sakura's the one falling behind the most out of all three. That's why she needs to participate in this exam in order to grow, both physically and mentally.

"Stop joking around. We've already seen how you're capable of."

Her eyebrow raises and she doesn't seem to buy a single word.

"Only when I activate that power, without it I'm just a normal shinobi like any of you here. Probably even worse."

Therefore I explain to her. As Sakura gradually recalls to what happened back at the forest the other day and gasps, finally remember about the dangerous technique that she has personally asking me not to abuse in any way.

"But..."

Figure that she's going to say something negative again to support her ideal of not being suitable for the test. I chime in, "Everything will be fine. I believe in you, Sakura."

Not that I expect my words are going to work against her anxiety, because that would be Sasuke's job, not mine. But I hope it at least help, even for a little.

 **The day of exam.  
**

I meet up with the team by the gate to see how they're doing.

As expected, Naruto's super hyped for the test as he doesn't stop jumping around expressing his enthusiasms. Naruto then promises me that the next time I see him, he will no longer be a weak Genin but a powerful Juunin that everyone will respect.

For Sakura's part, she's still nervous and indecisive. Though I can feel that she's somewhat calmed down than the last time I saw her at the ice cream shop.

Sasuke must have noticed something strange in her but doesn't say it out loud. Just standing by the side watching me and Naruto talking.

"Be careful out there, you guys."

Therefore I wish them the best, wholeheartedly as this will be the final memory of us all being happy together.

Naruto grins widely and gives me a thumbs up, Sakura nods to me reluctantly while Sasuke smirks, even jokingly say that I'm going to regret not participating and will suffer from a huge loss of continuously being a Genin.

In the end I bid the team final goodbye and watch them slowly disappear into the building up ahead.

From then on I'm being left all by myself, literally since Kakashi's too busy dealing with Orochimaru's mess to be here watching my footsteps.

Taking this chance, I decide to go on a trip at the areas beyond Konoha's gate in hope of finding some clues. The moment stepping one step out of the gate however, I'm stopped by the guards. And it turns out I'm not allowed to leave the village alone under any circumstances, especially without my supervisor, Kakashi.

 _Established more new rules, huh? How nice.  
_

Figure that going against Hokage's order will be unwise, I have no choice but to stay behind. Wandering around the village, sometimes practicing by myself at the training ground, or finding anything interesting to do to draw away my attention from the Chuunin exam, which is now a hot topic flowing through every corner of the street.

 **Several weeks later.**

After preliminaries are over, I hear from Sakura about what happened at the Forest of Death and now that Sasuke's hospitalized. Though she doesn't go into full details about how they've gone through that hellish stage or the reason for Sasuke's unconsciousness. I already have guessed that it's Orochimaru's fault.

Then Sakura tells me her plan of visiting Sasuke at the hospital tomorrow and asks me whether I want to come along. Therefore I agree and she quickly decides a place for us to meet. Soon we part our ways.

 **Later at night, inside Nina's room.**

Around 10 P.M just as I'm about to get ready for bed and suddenly, I hear several knocks on my window, along with Kakashi's voice calling for me. "Nina-chan."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Once making sure that it's really Kakashi, I open the window to greet him. Still wondering why he would be looking for me at this hour. _Strange, I don't remember having any meeting with him today._

However Kakashi doesn't step inside and remains standing by the windows. He smiles and extend his hand to me.

"Sorry for bothering you this late but I'm kind of thirsty right now. May I have a cup of water?"

Needless to say I'm confused by his strange request but agree to get one for him anyway. While looking for a cup on the cupboard, suddenly I feel pain on the back of my neck then everything instantly goes black. And the last thing I hear is Kakashi's faint whisper by my ear.

"Sorry, Nina-chan... But I'm going to borrow you for a little bit."

 _Borrow?! What the hell does he mean by that..._

...

..

Soon I'm woken up by the bright sunbeams shining directly at my face. Then first thing comes into view is a clear blue sky and several white clouds slowly passing by. The sun is just right above my head and I feel hot wind constantly flowing against my skin.

Deeply confused, I sit straight up to look around. Only to realize that this is no longer my room but some mountainous area that I've never seen before. _What in the world...?!_

"Finally awake, huh?"

Suddenly I hear Sasuke's voice behind me and immediately spin around. Seeing him standing right next to Kakashi, having hands inside his pockets and greeting me with his trademark smirk.

"Long time no see."


	17. Chapter 17

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 17

* * *

"Out of all people, I cannot believe that you would do this to me!"

Nina stomps her feet onto the ground repeatedly, furious after being dragged into their secret training trip against her own will.

"I know that you're mad, but hear me out. Okay?"

Therefore Kakashi tries to calm her down but it's obviously not working. As she refuses to listen to any word he says and turns her head away from him.

"No. Don't talk to me."

..

...

That night at the hospital, both Sasuke and Kakashi were discussing about the preparation for the upcoming training trip. Things were going well until Kakashi mentioned something along the line of bringing a certain kunoichi along with them. And it didn't take long for Sasuke to figure out who that kunoichi was.

"Is that really necessary?"

Confused by his teacher sudden decision, Sasuke asked.

"It's hard to explain, but I kind of have to."

He smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

* * *

Some days ago Kakashi's been reported by the other Jounin about this one kunoichi, whom he's suppose to be in charge with, had tried to leave the village on her own without his consent. _Guess I can't leave her by herself after all._

During the Chuunin exam's period, Kakashi's too focus on dealing with its chaos that he had almost forgotten his other responsibility. And after spending some time thinking it over, Kakashi came up with a solution which could help him keep watch on both of his students at once.

 _Killing two birds with one stone, perfect._

* * *

"It's only Nina. I'm sure she will bring no harm. Right?"

Hearing so, Sasuke frowned.

It's not that he disliked the thought of having Nina accompany him for the whole trip. What he hated was that she would be there to witness how weak he was. And not only her, but also everyone else. _Especially Naruto._

Judging from Kakashi's expression, it looked like the man also didn't enjoy the idea as much as he did. Despite being the one suggesting it in the first place.

And for someone like him having to do some errands that he didn't enjoy, there could only be one thing. _Another one of those Hokage's requests, perhaps?_

"I'm sure she will be helpful, one way or another."

Figured that this talk was really not working as intended. In the end Kakashi only promised him that Nina would behave and not delay their training progress.

Sasuke gave his teacher a doubtful look. While none of this actually made sense to him right now, he was somewhat curious about what those adults were planning in their heads and decided to play along. "Fine."

"That's great!"

In instant Kakashi smiled and clapped his hands to conclude their discussion, stating that the only thing left for him to do was to return to his place to *pack things up*.

"Then I will get going first." Not going to sit here waiting for them or having any intention to depart together, Sasuke suggested. Therefore Kakashi nodded and with that, he vanished.

 _It felt as if Kakashi had become her caretaker or something..._

Then the moment his teacher showed up at the spot with an unconscious Nina lying on his back. Sasuke had a feeling that something's wrong, and when he asked whether Kakashi had kidnapped Nina in her sleep. The man denied his doings completely. Explaining that she's only tired and took a nap on his back on the way here.

"Everything would be just fine." Or so he claimed.

...

..

Except it's really not the case.

"Hmmm... I had a feeling that you would say no, so..."

Kakashi scratches his chin in thought. His excuse is that there's no time for debate. By following his shinobi's insinct, this method is convinced to be quickest and easiest.

Surely it was an unpleasant experience for her, but at least it worked for them.

"Of course I would say no! Just what the heck are you even thinking?!"

Nina replies, almost yelling at his face.

"Well... Look at the bright side! you get a chance to go outside and enjoy fresh air, right?"

Kakashi presents her the beautiful view of canyon before him. Until she constantly complaining how there's no tree, no pond, no grass field nearby and how boring this place can be.

"Right my ass, what am I suppose to do in this wasted land anyway. There's literally nothing here but rocks."

Only waiting for that, he suggests her practice sparring with Sasuke in her free time. However she rejects the idea instantly.

"No, I don't want to. Practicing or whatever, I don't remember ever signing up for those jobs."

Nina insists on him letting her go, refusing to listen to any of his requests. "I should be sleeping or watching TV at home right now. Not... this!"

Perhaps having enough of her stubbornness, childish acts and constant nagging. Kakashi's expression turns serious and his voice deepened.

"If you want leave that badly. By all means, do so."

Kakashi says, then points his thumb toward to the exit.

"And the moment you step your feet outside of this area, you're on your own."

Soon after those words fall from his lips the girl flinches, she glances toward to the direction where Kakashi's finger is pointing at then back to the ground below, unsure how to respond next.

Meanwhile Sasuke's standing beside them and has been listening to the whole conversation. He's somewhat confused by her reaction. _Just what is she hesitating for?  
_

Kakashi's little threat doesn't sound that much terrifying, as this place bears no danger to a Genin so it shouldn't be a problem for someone like her to return alone. But judging from Nina's troubled expression right now, Sasuke figures that there must be some kind of hidden meaning behind it.

"Beside, what's wrong with helping a friend when he's in need?" Kakashi tilts his head to one side while asking her. "Unless you're having something to hide from us."

Nina frowns a little, and after spending a good minute of thinking over. She has no choice but to go along with his plan. "Alright, fine."

"Good girl." Immediately turning back to his carefree demeanor, Kakashi proceeds explaining what she should do and not while staying here with them. While Nina still showing this much uncooperative attitude toward them, Sasuke highly doubt that she's going to follow to anything Kakashi says and forgets everything eventually.

Soon Kakashi dismisses their meeting and only waiting for that, Nina walks off on her own without looking back. While Sasuke remains since his special training is about to begin.

Still, Kakashi doesn't seem to care and begins their training right away. Since they've wasted too much time for something that's not a main course.

And almost thirty minutes later into the lesson, Sasuke notices Nina's silhouette at the corner of his eye. She's sitting under a boulder not too far away and watching them with a bored face.

It turned out that Nina didn't go home as he thought she would be, but trying to find a shady spot to sit down instead. As she didn't want to suffer from sunburn and heat stroke for staying too long under the sun.

* * *

By noon, I was appointed to collect dry branches and catch some fish from a forest miles away in order to prepare for today's lunch.

And now here I am, sitting by the side of the lake and staring at the small waterfall before me for almost an hour, still no fish in my hands. Simply because I don't feel like working nor returning to our camping spot.

 _Just what the hell did he mean by borrowing me anyway? Am I just some kind of tool for him to use whenever he want?_

Of course, I would be a good target to become Sasuke's practice dummy right now, someone who just happened to have the most free time and also a teammate of his. How convenience is that.

"Are you done pouting? If so then get your ass moving because we're going to be late."

Approaching me from behind is Sasuke, as he points at one of the fish swimming within the clear water before us.

"Not yet. And you don't have to walk all the way here just to notice me about my job."

Irritated by his unwelcome presence. I respond by throwing a small rock toward to the spot he's pointing at, manage to scare the fish away.

"Do you hate me that much?"

Sasuke comments, seems to be annoyed by my uncooperative acts.

"Who say anything about hating?"

Fixing the orange butterfly pin which is almost fallen from my messy hair, I begin to nag again. Of how I was brought into this uncivilized place against my own will, by my own supervisor. For whatever reason that I had yet to known.

"Actually, none of us wanted this to happen either."

And after a while Sasuke speaks up. Much to my surprise.

"What do you mean?"

I can understand Sasuke's part of not being fancy of this situation since it's clearly Kakashi's idea, perhaps to keep watch on me, and I have a good feeling that he has talked Sasuke into cooperating with him.

But to say that even Kakashi doesn't want me to be here... _Just what exactly is going on?_

"If you don't believe me then you can try asking him later."

While telling me so, Sasuke begins to take his shoes and white arm warmers off, tossing them onto the spot at the ground right next to me. Then jumps onto a rock boulder nearby carrying a few Kunai in his hands to start hunting for the food, which are hiding under water and big rocks surrounding the lake. Swiftly and quietly.

Figure that keep sitting in one place pouting won't release me from boredom, I decide to join him to speed up the progress. "I'll help."

"No need."

He declines me right off the bat. But it's already too late since I've already gotten into the water with several kunai in my hands. Therefore I stop walking further when the water reaches my knees and search around. Once spotting one moving around near my legs, I throw the knives. Only to miss the target completely and my brain freezes.

 _Damn, I almost forgot how bad I was at this._

Despite already being trained for these situations, I actually didn't receive many chances to go out of the village to experience real things due to Ryu's strict rules. And whenever I did, there was always be Momiji who prepared a lunch box for me to carry away. Or Ryu who would just hunt for both of us so that we wouldn't waste time into these chores.

In the end it's quite easy to guess that my survival skills are quite low. _They do exist, just not refined. That's all..._

Also my B ranked Shurikenjutsu isn't really helping in this case. But not going to give up that easily, I try again. Again and again until hearing a faint snicker behind my back. And it doesn't takes long for me figure out whom it belongs to.

"What's so funny?"

I ask without turning around, eyes still fix on the water surface to look for another target.

"Nothing, after witnessing all the bizarre things you've done. I'm quite surprised that you're actually bad at something as simple as this."

While Sasuke's speaking, I can hear him jumping off from his safe place to move closer to where I'm standing.

"Isn't that great? You found out my weakness."

Even though the Uchiha doesn't comment anything on my lame effort, I can still read his face, which is clearly saying that the result won't change whether I'm here to help him hunt for food or not.

And I definitely don't like that thought. At all. _I cannot lose! At least not to these fish!_

Yet almost an hour went by, what I gained was not fish but exhaustion and hunger...

"Let's go back already. Kakashi's waiting."

Getting bored after watching endless failures, Sasuke urges me to return since the sun is almost setting. And Kakashi's not going to happy knowing that we've been wandering around on our own for too long without his permission.

"I don't care, not until I can catch one."

Still, I refuse to get out of the water and walk away from him since his words are distracting me from catching my preys.

"What the hell are you being so determined for? We already have enough food."

Sasuke shows me the fish he has caught in his hand but to I ignore them completely. Figure that talking alone won't be enough to stop what I'm trying to do, Sasuke approaches in attempt to drag me back. Ends up scaring all the fish away due to his sudden movements.

"If you want to leave then go on ahead, leave me alone."

Annoyed, I try to shoo Sasuke away by start throwing pebbles at him, but it's not working since he easily dodges everything. Acting like his stubbornness is at the same level as mine.

"Quit fooling around. I don't have all day."

Within seconds Sasuke snatches my arm when I'm trying to reach for another pebble and pulls me toward to the border. Unfortunately for him, I'm not that easy to tame.

"Well guess what, you don't but I do!"

I yank my arm back and toss the water at him. Startled by my reaction, Sasuke receives a full blow from head to torso and freezes on the spot. Still, Sasuke doesn't drop any fish in his hand by that sudden attack so I suppose it's all good.

Or so I thought.

"..."

There's a dead silence between us. And for a short moment I've already imagined the next thing he will be doing are yelling and cursing at me with any insult he has in mind. Different from my expectation however, Sasuke wipes the cold liquid off his face and smirks darkly.

"So you want to play, huh?"

* * *

It's not until four in the afternoon that they return to their resting spot. There, they find Kakashi lying on top of a rock and reading his favorite book while waiting.

"So... What took you guys so long?"

Kakashi closes the book in his hand and stares at his pupils, who are completely drenched from heads to toes for some reasons. Then at the fish in Nina's hand, which are suppose to be their lunch have now become their upcoming dinner dish.

"Uh... you can say that stuff.. happened."

Nina replies reluctantly. While Sasuke approaches the campfire spot locates in the middle with dry branches in his arm in order to set it up. Hoping to dry up his clothes before the sun set.

"Okay, like what?"

Kakashi then asks for details and Nina bites her lips, debating whether she should tell him about both of them being caught up in such an intense water battle that they have totally forgotten the time.

A couple of minutes later and she still can't answer him properly, Kakashi let out a sigh.

"Don't think that you're the only one who feels uncomfortable here, Nina. Remember that we are stuck in this mess, together."

Immediately Nina's eyes widens in surprise, then she nods her head to him in apologetic. As if having understand what they're going through. "I see."

From behind Sasuke glances at them curiously, wondering the mess that Kakashi has mentioned just now is himself or something else. _Stuck? What the heck does he mean by that?_

"I was actually waiting for you to figure all of this by yourself. But it seemed that I had to skip that part since we could not risk wasting any more of Sasuke's time."

Kakashi goes on lecturing Nina about her immature behavior. Too tired, hungry and cold, she ignores most of what he's saying and looks for a spot near the campfire to take a nap instead.

* * *

Soon I'm awaken by the smell of grilled fish that Sasuke's cooking and notices that it's already dark. While gathering around the campfire eating dinner, suddenly Kakashi appears and throws something at me.

"Here you go."

Catching it with my hands, I find out that it's my alternative backpack, which contains toothbrushes, stuff support daily needs that I have prepared beforehand in case of any urgent missions. So that when being called, I can just grab it and go immediately.

 _I don't remember ever seeing him carrying it around when we arrive here. He didn't return to my place just to get this for me, did he?_

And before I can even ask him anything, Kakashi speaks. "I also left a note on your table. In case your friends were going to look for you."

 _A note?_ It must have meant for Sakura, since I was suppose to meet up with her to visit Sasuke at the hospital today. Also for Naruto in case he feels like barging into my house to look for me without notice.

"Is that so. Thank you."

My eyes fix onto the clothes folded neatly inside the backpack for so long that almost drilling a hole onto it. Can't help but feeling embarrassed for acting up with him before even knowing the full story. And now I don't even know what to say to apologize.

In order to save myself from the awkwardness, I offer to do something to make up for it instead of saying empty words. "I will try to help."

"What?"

Confused, Kakashi's head tilts. While Sasuke stops chewing on the grilled fish and turns his head to look at me.

"Training dummy or whatever, I will do it. But just so you know, my Tatjutsu is nowhere near Lee's level."

While at it, I go on and on about how incredible Lee's physical prowess is and that he has easily outmatched Sasuke, a prodigy and a Sharingan user, no less, in a friendly match.

"How do you know that we're going to practice Tatjutsu?"

Suddenly Kakashi's expression sharpened. Expressing his doubt toward my knowledge and pointing how I've never bothered to pay attention to half of their training, also staying too far away from them to be able to listen to anything, since morning. And not to mention that they haven't been that far into the lesson, all thanks to me and my mischief.

"Isn't that obvious? Because that's all I can provide you with."

Hiding away my nervousness, I say. Attempting to lead them away from the fact that I've already known what they're here for to avoid any conflict or misunderstanding. By reminding those two that I have no chakra or ability to perform any special technique. Therefore the only thing I can do to help is hand to hand combat training.

Also if this is about Bukijutsu, then clearly Sasuke won't be needing me as a practice partner. For obvious reasons.

"How did you know so much about Lee?"

Curious at how I'm being well-informed about that thick eyebrows boy, Sasuke asks.

"Sakura told me."

And I almost stutter. Though it was not truly a lie since Sakura did mention about Lee in our last conversation, although briefly, then everything else was surrounding about Naruto and Sasuke, reason for her new hair cut and crazy encounters.

"Next time. I won't lose."

Suddenly Sasuke declares to us, his hands clench into fists and pair of onyx eyes burn with great determination. It seems that the Uchiha's heir is still holding his grudge against Lee from their faithful encounter on that day.

Since it's still too early to sleep, Kakashi leads Sasuke to a vacant spot nearby to revise the lesson from morning and of course, more physical training after that. Watching them while finishing the leftovers, I sigh.

 _Jeeze, tomorrow is going to be tough, isn't it?_


	18. Chapter 18

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 18

* * *

And I wasn't wrong, at all...

 **Next morning.**

 _Alright, if he goes right then I'll go left. and then..._

"Stop."

As I'm about to catch Sasuke's fist, we're stopped the sound of Kakashi's voice. And from the rear of the battle ring, we see him holding his arm up while approaching us.

"Your moveset. It looks unnatural."

He points at me, comments about my clunky movements.

"Unnatural?"

My head tilts in confusion.

"To what I've witnessed yesterday."

And I frown. Still not understand a word. _Yesterday? What is he talking about?_

After spending a good while thinking, I gasp out loud. Finally figure out that Kakashi had followed me all the way to the lake but seen my battle against Sasuke that noon.

 _Of course! I was too focus on the fight to notice his presence!_

Ignoring my annoyed face, Kakashi proceeds pointing out my flaws. How my actions aren't running smoothly as they're suppose to be, because I've been too focus on countering Sasuke's attack to actually fighting him.

To make it simple, I'm playing it too safe. That's why it's already been fifteen minutes into the battle and I've yet able to land any hit on my opponent.

"But that's what training is about. Right? To enhance our critical thinking instead of just mindlessly beating up someone."

In my own defense, this is a friendly match so there's no point for me to go all out. Yet both of them don't seem to prefer my overly defensive method. And Sasuke's expression right now showing him being the most displeased.

"If you intend to waste any more of my time being a bother. Then leave."

He spat, and I can feel his intense glare's piercing through my soul.

 _Great, now the Uchiha's mad._

Not wanting to fight with him so I turn to Kakashi for some assistance. Only to see him staring back at me with an emotionless face. I bet he's attempting to make me feel guilty for not being serious with Sasuke's training. _And goddamn it worked..._

"Alright, fine. If you want me to fight for real. So be it."

I hold my arms up in defeat and immediately Kakashi's face brightens up. After ordering us to go again, he returns to his old spot, taking out his notebook and pen. All prepared to watch and grade my abilities.

 _Here goes nothing!_

The moment Kakashi gives us a signal, I charge ahead in hope to land my first hit on Sasuke's face. However, my fist misses him by an inch and he counters with a punch to my noses. Quickly I slap his hand away, one after another as they keep coming toward to my head.

To lower my defense, Sasuke adds a kick to my side and in order to dodge it, I jump. But so does he, and even higher than where I am at. Then Sasuke proceeds delivering series of kicks on my back and send me back to the ground again.

After landing on my feet safely, I look up to find my opponent and already see a foot flying toward to my face. Quickly I block the kick with my arms, but the force's still strong enough to send me flying meters away.

It only stops when my body hits a boulder and I begin to lose my balance. Once getting me into tough spot, Sasuke does several hand signs and I recognize what those are instantly.

 _That damned jerk, he's going to use Ninjutsu in a Tatjutsu-only match!_

My teeth cringed at the unfairness, then I glance at Kakashi. The guy's still emotionless as ever and doesn't have any objection with what's about to happen.

 _Screw the rule then._

No time for hesitation, I pull out some shuriken and kunai from my pocket and thow them at Sasuke. As expected, he stops in half-way to dodge the daggers and I quickly get back on my feet, dash to where Sasuke is and punch him hard in the stomach.

Due to the impact, his puffed cheeks vanish and the ninjutsu is cancelled. While Sasuke's crouching in pain, I try to knee him on the face as payback. But he dodges and sweeps my other leg, causing me to fall flat on the floor.

Sasuke then jumps backward to keep distance while I get back up again. Now both of us are back to our starting point, with addition of bruises and messy clothes.

The fight goes on for an hour or two, Kakashi claps his hands as a hint for us to stop the battle. Once putting the notebook inside his jacket, he turns to me.

"I will take it from here. Good work."

Therefore I nod to him, disappointed somewhat since he doesn't have any comment on my performances. _I wonder whether that's bad or good according to his standard..._

Soon Kakashi leads Sasuke away and I find a place to rest.

From that day on beside from training Tatjutsu, Kakashi begun to order us to compete with each other in any type of sport he could think of. From long and short dashing, to tree and mountain climbing, swimming, and shuriken throwing.

We even spent a whole day trying to collect honey from local wasps nests, no need to tell to know whose strange idea that was.

At first, both Sasuke and I agreed that it's a bad plan to harvest from those hunters but our teacher digressed. Telling us that doing this would somehow enhance our skills and senses, plus a delicious reward if we succeeded. It's just too good to pass.

Despite all the heated explanations and objections, Sasuke and I still had to do it unless we wanted to hear him nagging about teamwork for the rest of the day.

Except there's no teamwork when the rule's changed in the middle of the battle, all thanks to Sasuke who kept complaining that it's too easy. Therefore we had to fight against each other over the rare honey in order to win. Almost killing each other in progress as both of us fell off a cliff while trying to get away from the angry wasps.

In the end the operation failed horribly, as expected, with no honey or whatsoever but stings and bruises scattered all over our bodies. But we had fun, for me at least. Such a pity that innocent moments like these never lasted too long.

* * *

 **In one morning.**

"So this is Chidori..."

Nina comments in awe while watching him performing the technique.

Because Nina doesn't possess any Chakra, it's obvious that the Chakra Induction Paper doesn't work on her. And the only way to find out whether she's possessing any nature-related ability is through self-research, with extreme patient.

"Does it hurt when you're holding lightning like that?"

She asks, pointing at his sparkling hand.

"Not really."

Sasuke shakes his head and deactivates Chidori.

Ever since he's be able to use Chidori, his arm's also begin to be covered in white bandage, and it gets worse as day goes by. Whenever finish training with Kakashi, he would find a corner to sit down and start treating his wound in silent.

Figures that he wants to be alone, Nina can only stand aside and watching him. Though she did try asking him about it for a couple of times but he never response truthfully, always keeping everything to himself.

"But more importantly..."

Sasuke stops speaking once noticing Nina stands up abruptly. As she begins to look around the area, her calm demeanor's replaces with a serious expression which he rarely sees. And seconds later, Gaara shows up.

"Gaara, why are you here?"

Sasuke asks the unwelcome guest, while Nina's slowly moving toward the to back, trying her best not to get into eye contact with the sand shinobi. It seems as if she's being afraid of him.

"What is your motive? Why do you seek strength?"

Gaara ignores his questions completely. Of course, Sasuke doesn't have any obligation to answer him either. Everything's frozen until Gaara speaks up again, pointing at his face.

"Do not forget that you are my prey."

A brief moment after giving him a warning about their upcoming battle, Gaara leaves the area. And only after he's completely gone out of sight, Nina's be able to sigh in relief.

"Nina, you're shaking."

Somewhat is surprised by her reaction, Sasuke approaches and Nina flinches. As if she doesn't realize he's been there with her from the beginning as she's lost too deep in thought.

"Had you fought him before?"

She shakes her head in response.

"Then why are you looking like he's about to kill you."

Sasuke glances at her trembling fists, his head tilts in confusion.

"Did you see those soulless eyes just now? I bet his stare can kill people. You know?"

Nina coughs into her fist to calm down and tries to make it sound like a joke. Yet she's still so bad at hiding her nervousness as her eyes have been gluing to the ground below for the whole time.

"You're exaggerating."

Sasuke frowns in doubt, then she smiles to him awkwardly and walks away. While Kakashi doesn't say anything and just watch them from afar.

Soon after Kakashi ordered him to fetch some water so that they could have soup for dinner. It's already known that the lake was quite far away from their camping spot, and would take some time for him to finish the job. Still, he agreed and got moving immediately.

Once returning, Sasuke doesn't see Nina or Kakashi. Getting curious, he decides to go look for them. Soon Sasuke locates those two standing on a cliff not too far away and they both seem to be discussing about something.

Quickly, Sasuke hides behind a boulder nearby to eavesdrop their conversation. Yet he can't hear well from this distance, only pieces of here and there which is hard to define the topic.

A short moment later Sasuke notices Nina's eyes are looking at where he's standing and Kakashi speaks up.

"You can come out now, Sasuke."

Therefore Sasuke obeys and reveals himself. And from the look on his face, both of them can tell that he's annoyed, but also interested in their stories.

"It's nothing for you to concern."

Not going to wait to be questioned by his student, Kakashi states, and Sasuke nods in agreement. He then quietly returns to their camping spot, yet can't stop recalling to Nina's and Kakashi's troubled expressions throughout their last conversation.

 _Just what exactly were they talking about?_

 **At night**.

When getting ready for bed, Nina notices Sasuke's sitting alone on top of a boulder watching the stars up above. Perhaps unconsciously, his hand's caressing his neck, where the cursed mark is, while still being deep in thought.

"You're thinking of using that to fight Gaara, aren't you."

After a while Nina asks and his gaze turns to her. Seeing that she's lying on her mattress while staring at the night sky.

"And what if I will? Are you going to stop me?"

Sasuke's already suspected that Nina has known about the seal when he catches her glimpse on his neck from time to time, shortly after their reunion.

 _But who could have told her?_

The amount of people involved is limited, and he doubt that Nina actually know any of them to ask. Not to mention the fact that they won't be willing to answer her truthfully.

 _Someone's close, probably a team 7 member._

There's Naruto, but it's unlikely since he's too busy training for the Chuunin exam to see her. And Kakashi would be out of the picture.

Then a certain pink-haired kunoichi comes into his mind. He figures that that girl would be the one to spoil it since she's never been able to keep her mouth shut.

"No, I don't think I have that much of confidence."

Nina shakes her head while Sasuke's eyebrow raises. Mostly confused whether she's joking or actually being serious. Though which one of it is true isn't really matter, as long as it saves him from trouble of dealing with unnecessary dramas.

"Good to know that you're brain is still functional."

He comments nonchalantly. And another long silence between them occurs, until she finds some courage to speaks again. Her voice sounds so soft that it feels almost like a murmur.

"I'm sorry... for not being there for you guys. The Chuunin exam, I mean."

Suddenly being reminded of those memories from the forest, Sasuke smirks bitterly. "Why? You wouldn't be able to change anything even if you was."

 _That's right, even if she's there, nothing would change. Perhaps even turned out worse. People had died in there, and she wouldn't be an exception either..._

Nina bites her lips and covers herself with the blanket. As she can't find anything better to say and silently letting those words of his slowly eating her down to the core.

* * *

 **Next morning.**

When the sun hasn't fully raised, Kakashi has told us to train by ourselves for a little while because he has something urgent to do. So we'll do just that.

As usual after eating breakfast and getting ready, we start with our daily morning workouts. Once done, Sasuke suggests.

"How about we have a match?"

And I'm about to say yes to his offer. Until he presents the rule, which is that we're going to use our forbidden techniques to decide the winner.

"No, I'm not going to play that game."

I back out without a doubt.

"Come on. Don't tell me you're not curious."

He tries persuading me. Pointing out the similarity between our abilities, which is that both are boosting the user's strength and speed then leaving him/her in a devastated state later. Also while activating the seal, he will have no chakra, just like how I have no Ki, to cast any Ninjutsu.

"You've said that you always wanted to know more about that power. Now is your chance."

Sasuke does have a point, and deep down in my heart I too, want to witness that cursed seal's capacity and how it will be comparing to what I am possessing.

"Fine, but only a for a little bit."

In the end, I can't reject the temptation. Despite knowing full well that I'm going to regret it, a lot.

"Ready... Go!"

Before I'm able to regain all my senses, the fight's already started soon after Sasuke's voice fades. As he activates his cursed seal instantly and charges forward. And I too, attempt to wield that strange power to take him down.

What's coming has to come, our fists collide. More keep coming and it doesn't stop, only getting faster by seconds. And after exchanging our attacks for a while, we notice that...

 _Not only speeds, but our strengths are also matched._

It's clear as day, while I don't want to admit it, he doesn't have anything to say about it. And the fight keeps going on until I have my chance to break out of it. For some reasons Sasuke doesn't chase after me, instead he stands there whispering something to himself and starts laughing.

 _What's wrong with him all of the sudden?_

Frozen on the spot I watch him. The ringing in my ears worsen as his laughter gets louder and crazier. That's when I realize that Sasuke's enjoying the power Orochi has given him, wholeheartedly.

 _This is my fault._

After this fight, if Sasuke begins to rely on that seal more than he originally does at this point of the story. I won't be so sure what will be waiting for us in the future. Still, this is not the time for me to blame myself cause I have to come up with something, quick.

 _Think, Nina. Think!  
_

Will Sasuke continue abusing this power from now on? Obviously yes, no matter what it takes.

 _Then what's the problem? No, the main issue here is that..._

Will the story get twisted somehow thanks to this event? Probably yes. And I'm too scared to imagine the possibilities.

 _What am I suppose to do now? How am I suppose fix this?_

Within that panic moment, I figured out that in order to crush that crazy idea of his, was to prove that the seal was not so incredible and perfect as he thought it would be...

* * *

While Sasuke's still fascinating about his gifted power, suddenly Nina's body flares up. And within a blink of an eye, she disappears from her spot then reappears right before his face. Seizing his neck and throws him onto the ground. His body hits the hard to surface below and causes them to break to pieces.

However unlike the last time they fight, it doesn't hurt at all and Sasuke smirks. He sweeps her legs and kicks her off to escape from being pinned down. It works and Sasuke immediately gets back on his feet.

Nina charges at him again and he manages to get behind her, Sasuke elbows her on the back but she's unfazed. Then she spins around and kicks him flying away.

 _She's become stronger and faster than before_.

Suddenly Sasuke sees Nina's coughing out blood, despite barely receiving any damage. That must mean she's exceeding her limit. Yet she isn't showing any sign of calming down. _Is she trying to kill herself?_

"Let's just stop."

For both of their safeties, Sasuke offers a truce. However Nina doesn't seem to listen and keeps on attacking him. He has no choice but to fight back to defense himself. And running is not an option as no matter how far he goes, she will always catch up.

"What is this? I was only gone for ten minutes and you two were already trying to kill each other?"

Soon after Kakashi's voice appears, a smoke bomb's thrown into the middle and they both stop to cover their faces from the smoke. And as soon as it fades away, they see Kakashi's standing in between them. His hand catches Nina's fist when it almost reaches to Sasuke's face.

"Do you mind explaining what's going on?"


	19. Chapter 19

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 19

* * *

Kakashi demands answer, his grip on her hand's so strong that Nina can't escape. Meanwhile, Sasuke deactivates his cursed seal and tries to catch some breaths.

The girl's stubborn to give in but so does he. Though the struggle between them won't last long because as soon as the red aura on her body fades, Nina collapses on the spot.

Immediately Kakashi crouches down to check on her, finding that her breath is unstable, she seems to be in pain and her body's burning hot. Like someone's on high fever.

He lays the mattress down for her to lie on. To cool the temperature, Kakashi asks Sasuke to fetch some cold water, as fast as possible. Therefore the boy obeyed and vanished within seconds.

Turning back to Nina, who's still gasping for air and looks so vulnerable. His doubts about her being related to the dangerous legendary Sannin has been toned down somewhat.

"Just what have you gotten yourself into."

Kakashi sighs, searching for whatever inside her bag and his pockets that can help reducing the pain. Fortunately, there are a few remedies left for emergency cases. And once forcing them down her throat, he then uses his handkerchief to dry the sweats off her forehead.

"Ryu nii-sama..."

In response to his touch, Nina shifts her head a little toward him and weakly calls for a name that he has never heard of before. And Kakashi memorizes it right away, as this can be an important info which he can use on her later on.

 **Yesterday at the cliff**

"Gaara is abnormal."

Before Kakashi could say anything, Nina confessed. And he noticed that frightened expression, which had yet to worn off from her face ever since the last incident.

It's understandable for her to be scared that boy, his power, his mentality, everything. As he had also been wary of that sand shinobi since the beginning of the Chuunin exam.

"But you're not going to ask me to make Sasuke quit the exam, are you?"

He asked, wanting to know more about what she had in mind than the actual answer. As the decision had already been made from the start and couldn't be changed. It's also obvious that Sasuke wouldn't give up on fighting a strong opponent just because there's someone telling him not to.

"Not at all."

Surprisingly Nina shook her head. Insisted that Sasuke must use his newly learnt technique to take Gaara down. It's good to know that she believed in her teammate and willing to support him.

Considering their discuss about Gaara and Sasuke ended. But that was not the main reason for them to be here.

"Last time you mentioned about an old friend, it's Orochimaru, wasn't it? You knew about his arrival."

Kakashi reminded her about a certain point that she had mentioned to him on that day, Orochimaru. And Nina nodded, without hesitation.

"How did you know about Orochimaru?"

"I read about it."

The girl with orange butterfly pin again used the same old tactic as an excuse. And what troubled him the most was that the girl didn't seem to be lying about this whole mysterious reading business.

"Is there any limit to this record?"

Hearing so, Nina's head tilted while counting with her fingers. "72 volumes and hundreds of documentaries. But that's still not the end of it I believe."

 _So much that they're even divided into volumes?_ Kakashi frowned, getting even more confused. _Documentaries? What is she even saying?_

From time to time Kakashi had to remind himself that he shouldn't believe in everything she said. Nina could be using these strange words as a tactic to confuse him. Since there could be someone from outside that had informed her about the event beforehand.

 _An ally of Orochimaru?_

Quite possible, out of nowhere appeared a little girl carrying tons confidential information as well as full of mysteries. It's even more frightening when realizing there could be more of her lurking out there. Plotting to invade Konoha with these knowledge.

"What else are you hiding from me?"

Seeing his serious expression, Nina figured that it would be unwise to continue staying quiet.

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

Before answering his question, she asked him and forced a smile. The girl looked as if having read his mind but couldn't figured out a proper way to fix the problem.

"But it's alright. Things take time. Especially in this kind of thing."

Nina whispered to herself that only enough for him to hear, then she closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Someone's going to die."

Therefore she claimed, and Kakashi froze.

 _Death? Is this a warning?_

Many people died every single day, anywhere and due to any possibilities. _For what reason should I be cautious?_

However he shouldn't be taking this too lightly after what had happened. As this person must be playing an important role. Either to him or to her, or to anyone, many or not. And above all...

"Has this person interacted with us?"

"They know you."

Nina answered half of the question, but at least he'd gotten a hint. Quite vague, but better than nothing. Then he tried asking for more details, gender, job, age, anything that related to distinguish a human being but failed completely.

"Not even a location?"

Unfortunately, she did not falter.

Kakashi had a strange feeling that it would be somewhere in Konoha, but it could also be a place within the Land of Fire. While there's nothing to confirm his doubt, there was no threat that could make her speak.

As he's about to give up on this pointless conversation, Nina gave him a little reminding.

"What about to happen is inevitable."

And that warning caused him frown. Confused and alerted at the same time. _Something that could not be stopped even with my abilities?_

An accident? As in natural disasters? Or Diseases? Perhaps Suicide? Killed by someone who's stronger than him?

 _Just what exactly is it? What is she trying to imply?_

* * *

After everything had calmed down, Kakashi proposed that they would have a serious talk once Nina woke up. And when she did, Nina took all the blame to herself and that the whole team 7 had knew about her condition, except for Kakashi, her supervisor.

Despite hiding it well behind his usual smile, his students could see that he's angry at their irresponsibility. However due to her injuries, Kakashi decided that she would receive her punishment later when returning to Konoha.

The news about Nina's owning an abnormal power that could kill was not that much of a surprise to him. As he had his doubts way back to her first D rank mission, and that Sasuke was not the one responsible for the brutal massacre.

As if having discussed with each other from the start, Sasuke didn't mention a thing about Nina during their discussion back at the hospital, yet the boy's obnoxious reactions to most of his questions were pretty much everything he needed.

Yet there remained some stubbornness telling him that Nina could do that all by herself, as she must have received some help from someone. And with that in mind, the ex-anbu returned to the crime scene to do some research by himself, however what he had found didn't favor his theory.

It could take a while to solve the case, or they could do him a favor by admitting everything. And surprisingly, she did. Even showing him the strange power she had and what was costed for each use...

* * *

 **In one morning.**

"You're going to report this to the Hokage, aren't you?"

Still lying on the mattress, Nina asks the man sitting on a boulder nearby. Though the answer's already obvious just by looking at his face.

"Of course, since that's my job."

Kakashi calmly replies, his eyes haven't left the pages from that adult book in his hand.

"Can you please not do it?"

"No."

An instant, straight forward response. She then sighs.

"So what are you going to do after knowing about my conditions, imprison me?"

"That depends on the Hokage's decision."

Closing the book, Kakashi jumps down from the boulder and finds Sasuke, who has just arrives to the spot, to ask him watching over his injured teammate before disappearing through flicker technique.

"How much longer are you going to be lazy around?"

Once settles down next to her, Sasuke places the fruits which she has asked, more like begged, him to get for her some days ago, on her mattress.

"We aren't here to nurse and feed you forever. You know that, right?"

The Uchiha has changed into his black, one-pieced attire. The one he wears for the upcoming Chuunin exam battle that god knows where and when he has gotten from.

Despite being busy with training, he still spends his time to visit her in his break for almost every day, which surprises her greatly.

Knowing him, someone with limited verbal skill, she has tried to figure out a topic to speak in order to clear the awkward between them.

For Sasuke's part, he welcomes the soothing silence in his short break. Until he's no longer able to watch Nina embarrassing herself all over and over, only because she wants to hear him speak a word or two. Sasuke decides to go along with her conversation and expresses his opinions from time to time.

Their talks usually don't last over fifteen minutes, starting from how his day has been, to his Chidori practices and Kakashi, his plans for the upcoming battle against Gaara and what he will do after that. Jumping to their friends back in Konoha, members of team 10, 8, then their own team. Sakura, and ends with Naruto.

Also that's when the mood turns sour.

Nina notices that it's fine at first, to mention about his best friend a thing or two. However gradually he just outright refuses to listen and returns to his training immediately.

 _Must be because of his over the top competitive nature._ Or so she thought. After spending half an hour trying to figure out what's wrong.

Meanwhile Sasuke doesn't understand the reason for his mood swing either. It's just that every time he witnesses Nina talking about Naruto with those shiny eyes and smiles, Sasuke always feeling irritated and wanting to leave.

"Don't worry. I should be able to move again tomorrow."

Nina slowly sits up and picks an apple to take a bite.

"Why did you cover for me?"

After a while, Sasuke asks.

"You're still learning from Kakashi-sensei, aren't you? Causing him angry won't do any good to your training progress."

Nina explains her reason for protecting him from Kakashi's rage on that day, also telling Sasuke that she won't be expecting any appreciation from him so that he can train in peace.

"Is that so."

It seems that whenever there's trouble, small or big, Nina'd be there to help him go through. No matter the cost. And Sasuke simply doesn't understand why.

 _Why is she trying so hard just to get on good term with him. For what benefit will she gain exactly?_

"And just what are you trying to prove in a friendly match?"

Recalling to the moment Nina's almost killed herself to bring him down back then, those questions slips out of his tongue and she stops chewing. But it doesn't take long for Nina to find an answer.

"Because I'm scared."

Nina points at the invisible mark on his neck. While he's taken aback by her confession, she goes on. "I'm scared of that cursed power that Orochimaru has given you."

"Why? Because it make me stronger than you?"

Sasuke frowns, following her words closely and Nina's stunned for a moment. The looks on her face seems to be telling him that's not the real problem.

"What are you even saying? You already are without that ridiculous mark."

Yet Sasuke doesn't buy any of her words. After failing to persuade him for nth times, she decides to use it on him as payback for his stubbornness.

"That's right. I've been holding back until now because you're so weak."

"You have no idea how tough it is to stay behind every single time watching you take all the spotlight for yourself."

She notices Sasuke's expression has stiffened while hearing her blabbing, they indeed have done some damage to him. However the joke doesn't last long as she can't continue holding and bursting out laughing.

Confused by the sudden change, Sasuke's eyes widened and he stares at her as if she's gone crazy.

"Dude, chill. I'm only kidding. Has no one ever told you that you're so easy to fool?"

"What the hell?!"

Once realize that he's been made fun of, Sasuke shouts but she can't stop laughing since remembering his confused face from earlier only making it worse.

"O-Ouch...!"

At result, the muscle pain kicks in and she's stopped abruptly. Making ridiculous expressions to endure the pain and ends up being laughed at.

"Very funny."

Annoyed but can't do anything to stop him, Nina cringes her teeth and suffers in humiliation. Then she realizes that this is her first time seeing him smiling so genuine toward her, it's truly a rare sight.

"What is it? Something on my face?"

Notice Nina has been staring at him for a while now, he asks and she shakes her head. "Nothing. I was thinking that how great would it be if Naruto being open-minded about my power as much as you."

As Sasuke's still listening, she continues.

"I mean. If Naruto saw me almost killing myself back then, he would have gone really mad and started throwing tantrum. Wouldn't he?"

Nina let out a sigh, imagining all the unnecessary dramas that would have happened if Naruto's here. On the other hand, Sasuke's cool demeanor has already withered the moment that name shows up.

"Jeeze, I sure do miss him."

Recalling to the overly excited yellow haired boy and his birdbrain moments, Nina chuckles, thinking how hilarious Naruto training days must have been with Jiraiya by his side.

"I wonder how Naruto is doing now. Bet he's also working his ass off for the upcoming battle."

And everything turns frozen, as Sasuke's no longer respond to anything she says while Nina doesn't know what to do next.

Slip of the tongue, definitely, but it's already too late to take them back. All that left is waiting for the Uchiha to lose his interest and leaves the place to train like he always does, which should be about in any minute now.

However...

"Are you done?"

Strangely, his voice sounds dead cold.

"Huh?"

Nina's mouth drops a little, somewhat is surprised by the sudden turn of event.

"Naruto this, Naruto that! I'm sick of hearing his name over and over. Is that bastard all you care about?"

Sasuke raises his voice at her, and Nina's dumbfounded immediately. Her eyes widened and she keeps staring at him like he has grown two heads.

Not going to wait for her to respond, Sasuke stands up on his feet.

"Forget it."

He leaves the spot, without looking back.

"Alright, I'm here."

Soon after Kakashi returns but his student's nowhere to be found. Confused, he asks her. "Eh? Where's Sasuke?"

A speechless Nina points at the direction which Sasuke has gone to and Kakashi sighs, thinking that Sasuke doesn't listen to his order and wanders off on his own. Not going to waste time, he leaves to find Sasuke so that they can continue with their training and Nina's left alone to rest.

Just like that, Nina and Sasuke maintain the awkwardness between them. And it only getting worse as days gone by...

* * *

 **In that morning.**

Kakashi's waiting for me to take his hand, but I refuse.

"I know flicker technique too, so you two go up ahead."

Needless to say he's surprised, and Sasuke confirms that he has seen me trying that technique before in order to escape.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to run away."

Kakashi's obviously dissatisfies that I have been keeping secrets from him, but I ignore the man completely and explain my plan to them. Which is that I will be finding myself a seat within the audience area. Instead of appearing together with them on the battle ring. Mostly to avoid pointless attentions and misunderstandings.

"Now hurry up or you're going to be late."

It's only then Kakashi agrees to leave with Sasuke. And once making sure that I haven't left anything behind, I quickly follow.

The moment I arrive to the arena, everyone has already cheering for the contestants. After spotting where Sakura and the others are, I approach to greet them.

Of course the Anbu notices my presence but doesn't make any move, perhaps they have been informed about my arrival beforehand. Meanwhile the Sandaime's too focus on the battle ring to care, though I'm quite positive that our eyes have met just some seconds ago.

"Nina-chan!"

Sakura's the first one to react to my sudden appearance, then she asks Choji to spare his seat so that I can sit together with her and Ino.

"I can stand just fine."

I tell them that it's unnecessary, beside Chouji's doesn't want to give up on his chair as he hates standing for the rest of the battle.

However Ino and Sakura are too determined. At result, Chouji has to leave his seat since he can no longer handle those glares and loud nagging coming from both of the girls.

"Jeeze, Where have you been?! I was so worried!"

Right after sitting down, I'm being bombarded by tons of questions.

"Well... Stuff happened. You didn't read the note on my table?"

Therefore Sakura nods, then taking a folded paper out of her pocket and showing it to me.

"Yes I did. It said that you wanted to go outside to enjoy the beautiful world. But didn't specific where you would be going and when you would be back."

 _Enjoy the world, huh?_ Reading the message that Kakashi has *carefully* prepared for me, I frown deeply at how cringe it sounded.

"Right, sorry about that."

Then I make up an excuse for not leaving any info behind due to my carelessness and that after finding out the finals is opened for public. I rush straight home to support our team.

"It's okay, as long as you returned to us in one piece. I was afraid that you would get caught up in **_that_** again if traveling alone, you know?"

Sakura whispers to my ear, and I understand what **that** means right away. She's worried that those robots would appear and kidnap me like the last time in the forest.

"Yes, luckily nothing's happened."

I nod and Sakura smiles in relief. On the other hand Ino acts quite nonchalant about it. Probably because she doesn't bother about what other team's members are up to.

"You must be the new member of Kakashi's team."

Suddenly Might Guy approaches us from behind. "Nina, am I right?"

Lee's also curious and starts looking at us. As I stand up from my seat to greet the man.

"This man here is Might Guy, who is in charge of Team Guy, which conists of Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee and TenTen."

Sakura explains, also telling me that the smaller version of him standing nearby is Rock Lee, who is a contestant of this Chuunin exam and is recovering from his injuries at the moment. Therefore I say hi to him and he greets me back with a slight nod.

"Heya gal."

Soon Kakashi shows up, needless to describe how angry Sakura is but she quickly calms down on her own. After having small discuss about the mark on Sasuke's neck, the fight begins.

It's intense and amazing at the same time, just as expected from both incredible shinobi. Everything's played out exactly like how it should be. From Naruto shouting to stop the fight, to Gaara's sand cocoon and Sasuke's Chidori.

Finally, the big battle that everyone has been waiting for, Konoha Crush.


	20. Chapter 20

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 20

* * *

There's an explosion, following it is an area-wide Genjutsu that puts everyone into deep sleep. And the next thing I know, Gaara's already in progress of transforming into Shukaku on the battle ring. While Sandaime's being held hostage by Orochimaru inside a barrier at the rooftop.

Everything's a mess, and I'm utterly confused. Having no idea what part I'm going to play in this crucial moment.

 _What now? Should I wait for orders or start planning for my next move?  
_

Taking a quick scan on the surroundings, I count at least ten armed enemies. Thankfully none of them has yet paid attention to my presence.

 _First thing first, I need to calm down._

Up till now my hands and legs are still trembling. Palms are sweating out of nervousness.

I've faced several complex situations before, but none has come to this extend. Not to mention that there's always Ryu or Momiji to be by my side and guide me through difficulties. Telling me where to go and how to act in accurate orders.

 _However this time, I am alone._

The air is too intense that it's hard to breathe. Thoughts of getting killed keep running wild in my mind. To remind myself to stay focus, I bite my lips. Hard.

 _If I stand up now, some of them will come to get me._

On the battle ring, Sasuke's confused as much as the people from up here. After talking to Hayate, he glances around then up to the audience area, stopping at my seat. Our eyes meet briefly before he turns away and jumps over the tall wall up ahead.

"Nina-chan! What's going on?!"

Next thing I know, Sakura's already right by my side. The girl isn't surprise to find me being unaffected by the enemy's Genjutsu.

"I'm not sure. But it's not safe right now."

After hearing my answer, Sakura gets up from her chair to gain some info about the surroundings. Once figure out Orochimaru's the one behind all this, she tries to look for Sasuke but he's nowhere to be found.

"Sasuke-kun! Did you see where he'd gone to?"

She turns to ask me, knowing full well that I've been watching everything from the start.

"I think Sasuke's chasing after Gaara."

Her eyes trace from my finger toward to the tall wall not too far away, without noticing that there are already two figures swiftly making their way to her spot.

Cannot stand staying passive forever, I drag her down with me by pulling the corner of her shirt. Sakura's shocked by the sudden force from behind and let out a yelp. As Kakashi finishes the shinobi before us in one hit.

"You okay?"

I ask her while trying to get up. And Sakura nods to me, still holding her head with both hands in secure. Before being able to stand straight, Sakura pushes me to the ground in full speed.

"Watch out!"

Turns out there's one more right behind my back and she's just in time to see him. Luckily Might Guy's there to take the shinobi out before his kunai's blade can reach to us.

 _Damn, this war's pressure is messing my senses up._

To not even realize an enemy up close to my neck, I groan at my amateurishness. After wiping the blood off my cheek, I tries to get up again. Much more carefully than before.

 _Come on, Nina. Focus!_

Once standing firm on our feet, finally, we're told to watch each other's back while the Jounin off killing more sound shinobi to balance the numbers. Since Kakashi cannot leave his current duty of protection, he then demands us to form a small team of four member in order to help Sasuke.

"This guy, Pakkun. will be able to track Sasuke down by his scent."

As instructed, Sakura approaches Naruto to release him from Genjutsu, while I look for Shikamaru, who's trying to sleep through the attack nearby, to wake him up.

"Bah! Who cares about Sasuke."

Shikamaru refuses to help us right off the bat, also being bitten by Pakkun for pinching his cheeks without permission.

"Alright, this should be enough."

When everyone's come to, Sakura begin counting who's coming along. However Kakashi stops her right before my name's put in the list.

"Nina's staying."

Needless to say the other three are surprised.

"Why not letting her go? You have your whole team right here already!"

Shikamaru wishes not to be involved with troublesome missions. Therefore Kakashi has to explain that the team needs an advisor, and Shikamaru fits the role well.

Also, this is an order and he won't take no for an answer.

"I will be here to help the others keeping the villagers safe."

It can't be helped, since I'm currently in Kakashi's top suspect list and need to be keep in watch. _To_ _avoid future troubles, I have to do as he says._

"Alright, be careful."

Both Naruto and Sakura agree that it will be better for me to stick close to the Jounin during the mayhem. As they cannot risk facing another powerful enemies during this important A rank mission, when being lacking of manpower and suitable abilities.

For Shikamaru, well, let's just say that he cannot escape his fate no matter how much he tries.

Soon everyone dispatches through the hole on the wall that Might Guy makes. And I pull out the Kunai from my pocket to get ready for any ambush. It would be unwise for me to use my twins dagger or active that power here. The more I avoid attention, the better.

 _I can't leave, or hide. So the only thing left is to fight._

The clock goes on ticking as waves of shinobi keeps on coming. It's tough to both attack the enemy and protect the villagers at the same time. But thanks to the other Jounin, who are also here to defend the area, keeping me on track and preventing me from messing anything up.

Fortunately, Kakashi notices my efforts during the troubles and loosen the chain up a little. Giving me more freedom in my actions.

The battle goes on until only two remaining invaders left. After Kabuto reveals himself before us, those two retreat. Not wasting more time, the Jounin begin their search for Sandaime and I quickly tag along.

Soon we gather upon the resting spot of our Hokage's body. He's smiling peacefully, while utter sorrow and regret cover others faces.

Therefore being a Genin, I'm sent home first while the Jounin remains to resolve of the unfinished matters. When everything's somewhat settled down, I come to the hospital in the afternoon on that same day to visit Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. There, I'm told that they're all suffering from injuries, some light and heavy, but not life-threatening.

Once arriving to the room, everyone's soundly asleep on their beds except for one, Uchiha Sasuke, who's staying nearest to the window. He recognizes me through my footsteps but doesn't turn his gaze away from the sunset view before him.

After checking on both Naruto and Sakura to make sure that they're alright, I approach Sasuke's bed. Seem to have expected this, he doesn't respond to the slight movement I make when sitting on a chair nearby.

Sasuke's also covered in bandages like the others, but most on his left arm. And judging from his cold attitude, I figure that he doesn't even want to see me right now.

However since I'm already here, may as well try to endure it for a few minutes before leaving him alone to rest.

"..."

Dead silence gradually swallows us whole, and because Sasuke has been keeping his face away from me. I can't see his expression and unable to find out what's running inside his mind.

 _Is he sad because of Sandaime's death? Or fuming with jealousy after witnessing Naruto releasing his hidden power? Perhaps both and even more?  
_

Surely something in him has changed in a negative way. While Sasuke doesn't want to speak, I can't find any proper word to say to him. We've been so awkward to each other after that incident and this horrible event only making it worse.

 _Has our friendship been ruined beyond repair?_

Lots of time is going to be needed for our damaged relationship to heal up, by going one step at a time. Sadly, I won't be blessed with such fancy, when Itachi's about to arrive to Konoha to hunt for Naruto and turns everything upside down.

A minute soon feels like an hour. Bored, I turn to watch the slowly moving cloud up ahead. Only to have the drowsiness kicks in even faster and I decide that it's time to leave.

"Get well soon, okay?"

Those were the last words I told him before heading home.

From then on, I had some free time on my own. And instead of wandering around the village like always, I decided to stay at home to rest. Washing my dirty clothes from the last forceful journey, also cleaning up the room since it's too dusty after being abandoned for almost a month straight.

One day later, I was informed that team 7 had discharged from the hospital and continued recovering at their places. Since there's no shop available due to the damages cause by the invasion, I came to Sakura's house to borrow her black attire to attend Sandaime's funeral.

There, Sakura told me about Gaara, who turned into a monster and almost had them killed. However she fainted after trying to defend Sasuke from Gaara's hit, missing most of the fight and believed that Sasuke had saved her from the sand.

Later on I visited Naruto, who was still sulking from Sandaime's death to speak. Figured that he needed some time alone to recover from the shock, I left after helping him cleaned up his room, not forgetting to remind him that I would be waiting for him downstairs the day after.

 **The next morning.**

Sakura, Naruto and I waited for Sasuke to arrive so that we could all depart together. It started raining soon after everyone gathered at the destination. One by one, we lined up to offering flower to his grave. Some cried, some didn't.

Once everyone had their talks and the sky cleared up, we separated and went our way.

Not wanting to return home just yet, I walked toward to the river bank and sat there alone. Hoping to find some peace of mind from the artistic scenery. However when starting to doze off, I heard Sasuke's voice calling for my name.

 _"Nina..."_

At first I thought it's a misheard, or some sort of illusion and didn't respond. Until Sasuke approached me from behind and called my name one more.

"Nina."

That's when I snap out of fantasy and turn around to check. Standing right in front of me is the usual aloof Sasuke. His voice's strangely soothing.

"Sasuke?!"

My mouth is hanging open and I almost choke on my own breath, watching him sits down next to me like nothing bad has happened between us.

 _Seriously, after what happened between us, I didn't expect for him to come to find me so willingly._

"Your injures... How are they now?"

Once having calm down, I initiate the talk.

"Only minors so they healed up fast."

It takes another while for him to finally open up about their battle against Gaara two days ago. And how shocked he is after witnessing Naruto summoning thousand of his clones and Gamabunta, with the aid of Kurama's immerse chakra, to withstand Shukaku's attacks.

Of course Sasuke doesn't know that last, most crucial part, and been wondering what he has been missing all this time.

"Even with the cursed seal. I couldn't do anything."

Sasuke states bitterly, hands clench into fists. Hating the fact that he's being powerless against Gaara despite having tried his hardest.

"I'm sure you will get stronger, Sasuke. There's still a lot of time and opportunities for you to improve your abilities. Also, we're always here to help."

"Too slow, it's not enough."

His voice was little more than a murmur. Despite not admitting everything to me, I already know that he's comparing his progress to Naruto's and starting to feel inferior. Torturing himself day after day by repeating such act.

"Say... You don't hate Naruto for his power, do you?"

After thinking about it thoroughly, I decide to ask how he feels about his best friend. Mostly because of what happens the other day. Praying that his hatred toward Naruto isn't worse than in the original work.

"I don't hate him."

Sasuke looks at me for a moment before replying with such positive answer that I thought this has been a dream. However through his expression I can see that he's really not lying.

"Alright? Then why was you so fed up whenever we talked about Naruto back then?"

"Because you mentioned him for almost every single day. And it's starting to get really annoying."

Well, that one is true. But then again Naruto's only a fragment among several topics of our conversation, and to be honest I wouldn't think doing that would irritate him to such degree. I mean, we discuss about his daily training, Kakashi and Sakura way much more...

"I-Is that so. My bad then."

Not that it matters anymore, as long as misunderstanding is cleared. "So what are you going to do from now, continue training like no tomorrow?"

"Obviously."

Then we remain for a little chit chat till it hits noon, Sasuke leaves for his training routine and I walk back home to seek for some rest after a stressful day.

 **The next day.**

While making my way toward to the training area for some practice, I notice Sasuke walking alone on the street near my house. Despite not liking sweet himself, he's carrying a Dango-ya's medium sized sweet box in his hand.

 _Does that mean Sasuke's on his way back after seeing Kakashi? Then today must be the day Sasuke faces his brother, Itachi._

Soon after we meet, Sasuke hands me the box. While I'm still being dumbfounded by the sudden event, he explains.

"I heard you liked sweets."

Sasuke recalls to my first introduction before the whole squad on the day of my bell test. Surprising me even more.

"To be honest, I didn't think you would remember any of that."

Opening the box to look inside, I count around six pieces of Dango neatly arranged next to each other. Needless to say the sight of delicious dessert cheers me up greatly.

"Thank you so much."

For some reasons Sasuke's in a good mood today, as I notice he's also smiling like I do. However he turns away the moment I close the box to look at him.

"Right. See you later."

Sasuke coughs into his fist to stay cool and attempts to leave for his Chidori training.

 _That's right. After that, he will be heading toward to Kakashi's house and..._

"Hey, Sasuke?"

Sasuke halts and I cover my mouth immediately, but it's too late since those words have already gotten out of my grip.

 _No. Don't answer me, don't turn around. Please, keeps moving._

For a moment I lost control of my emotions and tried holding him back. Even though this conversation should have ended the moment he walked away.

 _But... If Sasuke arrives after that Jounin and doesn't hear about Itachi, maybe..._ _Stop!_

My teeth cringe as I try to hold back the urge to slap myself out of stupidity. Without a doubt that the story cannot be altered, and Sasuke has to suffer hardships in order to grow stronger.

That's why I have no rights to stop him, no matter how much it hurts. This is only for the best for all of them.

"What is it?"

In the end, Sasuke doesn't ignore my call.

"I-It's nothing. I'll see you later."

Trying to stay calm, I bid him farewell. Praying that he will be the one to leave first because my feet have been glued to the ground.

"If there's something you want to say to me then say it."

Yet, Sasuke stubbornly remains.

"Huh? No... Why are you asking that?"

"Then why are you looking so dejected?"

That question instantly hits me hard. What kind of face I was making just now, I wonder. But for Sasuke to point it out like that. It must be horrible.

"Well I..."

Usually I would simply fake a smile and cover it with a dumb excuse to get away. Yet this time, it feels almost impossible to do so, when knowing exactly what kind of things he's going to go through within a few hours.

But if I don't say something, Sasuke will definitely get suspicious and won't let it go until figuring out what it's all about.

"That's because I have stomachache."

Holding tight the box in my arms, I say. Gaining what left of courage inside to look him in the eyes to make it sound more convincing. Fortunately, Sasuke believes that white lie of mine and we part our ways.

Later on, I receive the news that both Sasuke and Kakashi are in comatose at the result of fighting the outsiders.

Immediately I rush to the hospital to find them. Once there, I see Sakura standing outside of Sasuke's room. Trembling in anxiety while waiting for the doctor to finish examining him. And the moment Sakura sees me, she bursts into tears.

"Nina-chan...! Sasuke-kun is..."


	21. Chapter 21

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 21

* * *

 **A week after.**

Since the village's heavily understaffed and its security's weakened. The leader has to gather anyone available to cover the missing spots and at result, I'm left with more freedom than ever.

However it also comes with a bad side, which is that I'm not allowed to accept any mission, even the simple ones to earn money. All due to being a low ranked shinobi, whose team is in the verse of breaking apart and our supervisor is deep in coma.

But it also means that leaving this place right now wouldn't be so difficult. Except...

 _Will that be the right thing for me to do? Leaving everyone during the utmost chaos situation?_

Especially Sakura, she's been very depressed about Sasuke's condition nowadays. It's already painful to watch them suffering, but it's even worse when I can't do anything to help.

 _We have no choice but to sit around, be patient and wait. And I hate just that._

So I choose to move on, it maybe a rough decision but I have to do it for myself.

For a while now, I've been thinking that not so long after this incident, Sasuke will leave the village for Orochimaru to seek for more power to kill Itachi. Encouraging Naruto to follow Jiraiya to enhance his abilities so that one day he can get him back. And in order to prove herself worthy for both of them, Sakura will ask to be Tsunade's apprentice and finally become strong.

Everyone's starting to set their goals and has purposes in life.

 _So then... What will become of me?_

That question's once again sent a shiver down my spine.

My mind has already set for what I want to do in the future, which is to search for a way to return to my own world and find my origins. However, at the moment with this body proportions and limited ability of mine, traveling alone is be dangerous _._

Therefore I need to be better prepared, which lead to another important point and that is to look for a good guidance to show me how. _But who should that be?  
_

And Kakashi's image is the first to pop up in my head. Kind of makes sense since he's been my supervisor ever since I've been stuck in this place.

To be honest, that would be more troublesome than its worth. Considering all the procedures, plus I doubt that he would be willing to spend his precious time tutoring a suspicious stranger like me.

Damn, if only I was born genius that capable of advancing by myself, or too overpowered to seek for any trainings and be someone's apprentice. Then I wouldn't have to crash my brain thinking for a way to grow up properly...

 _Wait, I still have those with me... Maybe I should take a look at them first before trying anything else!_

After spending a moment recalling where they're hidden, I search under the tatami and finally find them. _Good, the seals are still intact. No sign of being touched._

There are three scrolls in total. Green, blue and red stands for following beginner, intermediate and expert stage. These are prepared by Ryu for my upcoming Ninpo control lessons, which are not going to happen thanks for the accident that bring me into this world.

Therefore green one's the only one I'm allowed to have my hands on for the meantime. While the other two are meant to be kept away until I'm advanced enough.

Well... That's what I was told, except Ryu didn't mention anything about forbidden me to read them beforehand. So now here they are.

And I decide to give the green scroll a try. Reading it slowly and carefully, while hoping that I'll be able to get a clue of what kind of technique that Ryu's trying to teach me.

Soon hours pass by and I still have no idea of what's being written in it.

 _Shit. I don't even know what these words mean even though they're Japanese..._

No, it's too soon to be panic. There's still plenty of time to do research and maybe Konoha will have the materials that can help me read these strange symbols.

All in all, so long my peaceful lazy days and start the first step of my plan, which is to hit the library and old book stores all over the village...

 **In one morning.**

"Hi, Sakura."

"Nina-chan. Hello."

Like usual after visiting Kakashi, I pass by Sasuke's room and find Sakura's sitting on the chair right by his bedside. There are always fresh flowers and fruits available on the table, results of her coming here everyday to check on him.

"You're here early again."

I comment on her punctuality, while looking for another chair to sit next to her.

There are several times I find Sakura talking to the unconscious Sasuke, despite a little to no chance that he can hear her speak. Perhaps she's hoping that he will be awaken by her voice or it's a way for her to kill loneliness.

"No improvement?"

I ask the obvious and touch his forehead to inspect, there's no fever or zero reaction like always and Sakura nods. She still looks sad, just like the very day when we're standing at the hospital's hall, nervously waiting to see him.

"It's almost a month already, isn't it? Cheer up, I'm sure Naruto will get Tsunade to cure him."

She nods again. That dejected expression's somewhat fades a little. "Yes, I hope so too."

In the end I remain talking to her a little bit more before heading home to do more research about those damned Ninpo scrolls. Days and nights continue passing by for us until one day, Naruto shows up at the hospital with Tsunade by his side.

"I heard from Guy-sensei. Please... help Sasuke-kun."

The moment seeing our future Godaime, Sakura pleads her to save Sasuke and she comforts her with a grin. Telling us that everything will be okay.

"Alright, leave it all to me!"

Right after being treated, we're glad to see that Sasuke finally wakes up in Sakura's arms and tears of joy. Naruto's standing beside me, watching their happy reunion until cannot bear it anymore and leaves.

"Naruto, wait for me."

Since Sasuke's been cured. There's nothing more for me to do here so I decide to get going as well. Not to mention that it's kind of awkward to stay during this scene.

"Sakura, take care of him. Okay?"

Perhaps still being overwhelmed, the girl doesn't respond. And it's only then I notice that Sasuke's staring blankly at me. Confused, I remain by the door a little bit more to confirm whether he's going to say something to me.

However Tsunade seems to have noticed the odd and turns her focus to me, her eyes fill with curiosity.

"A-Anyways, see you guys later!"

I rush outside to get away from those watchful eyes. Since gaining attentions from the Godaime would be the last thing I want on my to-do list.

After getting out of the hospital, Naruto's already nowhere to be found. Luckily, I've already known where he's going and head straight there. Saving me time from looking for him.

"Naruto!"

Soon I locates him standing near the Ichiraku ramen shop, probably waiting for Iruka. After calling for him almost nth times, Naruto finally looks back and waves his hands to greet me.

"Ah! Nina-chan!"

"What the heck, we haven't seen each other for so long and that's all you have to say?"

I smack his shoulder as payback for all the running, jokingly blaming him being heartless toward to his friend and he grins, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry, sorry. So many things happened, you know?"

Then Naruto offers to treat me a bowl of ramen as an apology, and I gladly accept. A couple of minutes later, Iruka arrives to the shop and the three of us sit down for some chit chat while waiting for our food to be made.

"And I used my new ultimate move, Rasengan, to send all the bad guys flying. It's awesome!"

Therefore Naruto spends most of his meal bragging to us about his power, which he learns from Jiraiya not too long ago. While listening to his stories, Iruka looks proud and happy for his student, also not forgetting to give him advice here and there.

* * *

 **That night.**

"Eh? Isn't that Nina-chan."

When heading back to Sasuke's room after changing towel, Sakura sees her team member swiftly passing by out of the corner of her eye. And from the direction she's heading, Sakura figures that her teammate's going to Kakashi's room.

 _Did she return to find Kakashi-sensei?_

Curiosity easily wins over her and Sakura follows the girl. Once manages to reach there without being noticed, they're already in the middle of the conversation.

"...You knew, didn't you?"

The first thing she hear is Kakashi's voice, although the man doesn't seem to be in his usual composure. There's a tint of nervousness and uncertainty in his tone, which is rare.

Taking a peek through a small gap between the door, Sakura sees that Kakashi's sitting on his bed and Nina's standing by his side. Her face is hardly visible since she's having her back facing toward to her direction.

"Let's talk about that some other time. For now, I'm simply here to see how you're doing."

As opposed to Kakashi, Nina acts completely calm. Plus, the way she talks seems different than before, too. Is there something happening between them that she does not know of? _  
_

As if having come to an agreement, Nina quietly leaves the room and Sakura hides herself behind the wall nearby. After making sure that Nina's gone, she quickly makes her way back to Sasuke's room. Her mind fills up with unanswerable questions.

 **The next morning**

Sakura visits Sasuke early and decides to bring him some apple. Hoping that his mood will get better after eating them.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun."

As always, Sasuke sits on his bed and watches the scenery outside. He doesn't answer her but she doesn't feel rejected. And like a reflex, Sakura reaches for the chair nearby to take a seat, taking out a plate then starts peeling the apple.

When she's half way through, Sakura hears Sasuke's voice and her attention immediately shifts away from what she's doing to look at him.

"Nina..."

Those words sounds quite faint like a whisper but still enough for her to hear. Still, Sasuke's merely talking to himself while recalling to the things in the past. Yet Sakura doesn't expect it to be that way and asks him again like a way to confirm.

"Nina-chan?"

And Sasuke glances at her. Seeing that she has gained his attention, Sakura continues.

"I heard from Tsunade-sama that she left together with Naruto yesterday, right after you're being healed."

She recalls to what happens that day, twisting a little bit about the fact that she's followed her to Kakashi's room, while continues peeling the apple on her hand.

"I'd seen her returned to the hospital last night, probably went to meet Kakashi-sensei."

The moment she's done talking, the fruit's also ready to be eat. Seeing the masterwork which she has made is nicely presented on the plate, Sakura smiles to herself. _Yep, I did it this time. Sliced them nice and small._

Then Sakura gets up from her chair and approach Sasuke to give them to him.

"Sasuke-kun, want some apples?"

However, Sasuke immediately tosses the whole plate away, much to Sakura's confusion. Then seconds later, they hear small knocking on the door and a familiar voice behind it.

"Guys, it's me. Can I come in?"

* * *

The next morning when making my way toward to the hospital to visit Sasuke, I bump into Naruto, who is also on his way there. Therefore we decide to walk there together and have a little chit chat while at it.

Once arriving to the door, I volunteer to knock and go first.

"Guys, it's me. Can I come in?"

There's no response and I step inside. And standing in the middle of the room is Sakura, looking troubled and the apple pieces are scattering on the floor. While Sasuke's sitting on his bed, head facing toward to the window.

"What happened?"

Naruto speaks up before I can open my mouth to say anything. And the moment hearing Naruto's voice, Sasuke turns his head around. Eyes burn with great hatred.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Sasuke doesn't answer and steps out of his bed, proceeds demanding a match with him. Ignoring everyone's objection and warning that he's just gotten out of coma.

"Please, Nina-chan! Say something!"

Figures that her words are no longer reaching him, Sakura asks for my aid and Sasuke glances at me. Despite not speaking a word, what those dark fierce eyes are trying to imply is already as clear as day. And that I should not interfere, under any circumstances.

In the end, I can't do anything but watching them leading each other toward to the roof. Once there, Naruto and Sasuke insult each other before exchanging their fists. Once Tatjutsu is no longer working, they switch to Ninjutsu and we begin to see hundreds of Naruto clones, which soon be engulfed in Sasuke's flame.

"Sasuke! Naruto!"

Right now, everything occurs so fast that neither I nor Sakura have the time to react. Therefore coming up with a plan to safely separate them is pretty much impossible. And after a while what's coming has to come, Rasengan and Chidori appears on each of their hand.

"Don't! It's too dangerous!"

Notice that Sakura's about to dive in mindlessly, I grab her arm to hold her back.

"But if I don't stop them now, they will kill each other!"

Yet she ignores my words completely and pushes me away, charging right into the middle of the fight.

"Sakura!"

It's already too late for both Naruto and Sasuke to stop. And right before their fists collide, Kakashi arrives and tosses them both away. Saving Sakura's life within the last moment.

"Are you okay?!"

I rush over to check on her and she nods. While Kakashi's scolding the two for their immature acts, Jiraiya reveals himself behind the damaged water tower after having watched everything from the start.

Listening to their conversation, Naruto turns angry once knowing that Sasuke's tried to kill him and Sakura cries out of shock.

Once done having a little chit chat with Jiraiya, Kakashi jumps down to comfort us that everything will be fine and quickly follows Sasuke.

"Just now... that's Rasengan, wasn't it?"

Once Kakashi's gone, I approach Naruto to ask him so that Sakura won't hear us. And he nods to me, reluctantly.

"You wasn't serious, was you?"

Knowing that technique's quite deadly to try on a comrade, I wanted to know what he's thinking when using it against Sasuke during the fight. Beside the obvious reason which is that he's trying to prove himself worthy or expecting Sasuke to avoid it soon after.

"...!"

As expected, Naruto looks shocked. He frowns and bites his lips. Then his eyes shift away from my face to the ground below, remaining silent.

"What's wrong?"

Sakura comes in between us, her eyes are still red from the crying and she seems worried about us. Therefore I decide to drop our conversation, not wanting to stress her out more than she already is.

"It's nothing. Let's go home."

* * *

The sound of leaves rustling behind his back instantly disturbs the train of thought he's having and Sasuke groans. If it's Kakashi who has returned again to lecture him, he will do anything to get away since he's gotten enough of it.

"No need to be cautious, it's me."

However it's a female voice, rather familiar. And Sasuke turns around to see her gently lands onto the branch he's on, taking a seat next to him.

"Nina."

Sasuke speaks her name like a way to greet her and she nods. Somewhat is curious why she comes here to find him, Sasuke decides to stay and wait.

Peaceful silence soon returns as Nina keeps watching the scenery before them without speaking a single word, while he starts to wonder whether she's actually here to blame him for trying to kill her special friend earlier.

"In order to achieve your revenge. Are you willing to leave everything behind?"

Out of the blue Nina asks, and Sasuke's shocked.

"Everything?"

Leaving everything would mean abandoning his home, his closest friends and her, all for the vengeance and power that he's been craving for so long.

 _*Both you and I have found precious companions.*_

Just then Kakashi's voice rings in his head. Following the image of Naruto, Sakura and Nina smiling together with him. Sasuke frowns.

In the past he had lost his family but it wasn't by choice. And after going through all the hardships he had finally gained another.

Now that he's given a chance to choose. Would he be willing to lose them again?

 _*You are weak, because you lack hatred.*_

When Sasuke's beginning to waver, Itachi's words comes to his mind. That dreadful moment from before has once again returned to him vividly and Sasuke cringes.

Remaining here means that he will continue staying weak for the rest of his life and never be able to reach to Itachi. Which lead to another fact that there will never be a day where he will kill his brother to revenge for his clan.

All the trainings he has here will never be enough, and Sasuke knows that he's falling behind.

 _*I'm no longer the loser you once knew me as. I've changed!*_

Even a single thought of being inferior to Naruto is enough to drive him crazy. He despite the way he's acting so full of himself and think that they're equal. Him, a proud Uchiha, losing to that loser. Never in this lifetime!

"I'm not forcing you to choose, Sasuke. I only want you to know that whatever happens, we will always be here supporting you."

When he finally comes to, her hand has already reached to his left cheek. It's a slight touch, warm and Sasuke doesn't hate it. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breathe to rethink about everything. Once feeling that warmth is leaving his skin, his eyes open again to look at her.

"I..."

* * *

Night comes, as I'm about to be done cleaning up the mess in my room, which are different kinds of books and scrolls that I can get my hands on to support for my self-study, scattering all over the floor. Suddenly there are knocking on the door and I approach to open it.

"Nina-chan."

"Naruto?"

Naruto's standing before me, still looking depressed and I invite him to comes inside. A little but confused that he visits me this late.

However Naruto refuses to get in and remains by the door. Standing there for five minutes staring at the ground without saying a word. Getting curious, I ask him.

"What's wrong?"

"Say, are you perhaps... disappointed in me?"

And Naruto confesses, recalling to the incident back at the rooftop. It seems that he's been reflecting about his action and feeling guilty ever since.

"Not really. I'm sure you have your reasons."

Hearing my answer, Naruto nods. His expression eases up a little.

"Anyway, don't worry about it too much. I'm sure everything will be fine tomorrow."

I force a smile and comfort him that the two will soon make up. Since I cannot tell him that Sasuke's probably packing his stuff at the moment and ready to depart with the Sound Four.

"Yeah, you're right!"

Naruto believes my lie without a single doubt. Then he bids me goodbye to go home to sleep and I return with the cleaning. Once done, I take a bath, close the windows and get to bed. Facing the wall and trying my best to sleep through the chaotic night.

The next morning I find my windows are opened and there's a small paper on the table. Reading the note in my hand, I notice that it's Sasuke's handwriting. While scanning half way through I hear several knocking on my door and quickly hide the note inside my shirt.

A few seconds later, Naruto shows up.

"Nina-chan! Sasuke left the village last night!"

There's no time for explanation as right after informing me that the Uchiha's gone missing. Naruto, together with Shikamaru rush outside to gather other strong members to form The Sasuke Recovery Team, in hope that they'll be able to stop Sasuke from defecting to Otogakure in time.

Once reaching to the village's gate, I notice that they've gathered enough people for the team. Neji, Shiba and Chouji. Having an injured Rock Lee standing beside them. It seems that they're discussing about their strategy for the upcoming battle.

"Wait!"

It's then Sakura arrives. And Shikamaru inform that she's failed to convince Sasuke last night, also is not allowed to follow them on the mission. Soon the promise happens and Sakura thanks Naruto for helping her.

"Be careful everyone."

Once everything's prepared, I bid them goodbye and Naruto nods to me, grinning with full confident. Then one second the team turns around to get going, Sakura speaks up again.

"I know that it's selfish to ask but... Nina-chan, can you please go with them?"

My eyes widened in shock. Cannot believe what I just have heard, I ask her again.

"Sakura, what are you even talking about?!"

Everyone turns back to check what's going on once hearing my voice. However Sakura stands tall to her decision and clings onto my arm, begging me to go with the others to stop Sasuke from leaving. She's trembling heavily and her tears keep on falling from her cheeks.

"Please! If it's you, I'm sure that Sasuke-kun will listen!"


	22. Chapter 22

"..." Normal chat.

 _ABC._ Thought.

* * *

Chapter 22

* * *

There's a thorn in my heart. It was the reason for these uneasy feelings, ugly thoughts that I had recently. And by feeding on my desperation and jealousy, it kept on growing days after days.

I did my best to get rid of this thorn alone. Instead of succumbing to bitterness and jealousy. I decided keep on loving him and being by his side. Hoping that someday he would realize my feelings and freed me from this painful thorn.

The longer I stayed being ignorant and free of doubts, the sooner that thorn would dried off and died since there's no longer negative thoughts to feed on.

It would, right?

* * *

 _"Why do I have to act close to her? Isn't that your job to begin with?"_

 _"Another dead weight to the team."_

 _"I don't trust her one bit."_

It started quite roughly for you and him. And I tried my best to not let you feeling down when living alone in Konoha. Despite the misunderstandings we had for each other from the start, you acknowledge my effort and appreciated it greatly. Soon we became friends.

 _"I will go get her. You stay here and finish the rest."_

After going through hardship together from your first D-rank mission, your and his point of view toward each other was starting to change positively. And I was happy that we were be able to set things out fast and act like a team again.

 _"Don't get too carried away, I simply follow to find out what more of these things can possibly do."_

Despite acting the most calm out of the team, I had a feeling that he wanted to save you as much as Naruto did.

I was shocked that he was the first person to know about your strange power. And that you both had been hiding about it from us all. For who knew how long if it wasn't for that incident at the forest.

 _"But why? Aren't we suppose to be a team?!"_

You couldn't answer my question.

 _"It was a secret. A life-threatening one."_

So he said it in your stead. And just like that, our conversation ended.

During our Chuunin exam, you was mentioned in our chats from time to time. Of how would our team turn out if the three of us became Chuunin after this while you wasn't. Whether you would be left behind, perhaps going to appointed into another Genin team due to different in rank.

It's obvious that Naruto hated for that to happen. And by the look on his face, he didn't seem to like the idea either.

Despite not wanting you to be sent away. Naruto didn't want to put any pressure on you to be a Chuunin, since he had promised from the start to support whatever choice you made.

On the other hand, he doubted that any of us would be able to convince you since you're too stubborn to listen.

 _"I will encourage her. Nina-chan definitely won't turn us down when we're being too sincere."_

...Or so I said. It was the only and easiest way for us to maintain our four-member team. By persuading you to join the next Chuunin exam. If you agreed and even passed it then we would never be separated.

Then I noticed that he looked somewhat relax after hearing my suggestion.

 _Was I doing the right thing?_

Would it really matter? I had already known that you would refuse our request. Insisting to remain as a Genin since you was weak and afraid of battles.

Exactly like how you had told me back then, right? Nina-chan?

About the chance that you would be appointed to another team. Would he be sad? Maybe a little. Though I was certain that he would soon forget and move on.

After Chuunin exam was over, thinking that he and I could have spent a day together to enjoy our little peace after countless stressful days we'd been through. I started searching, and finally found him coming out of a sweet shop carrying a box in his hand.

I had never seen him buying sweet for himself before. So what's the change of heart?

 _"It couldn't be for her, could it?"_

Before I knew, I was already standing before him and blurted out my deepest doubt. Heart beating so fast that both of my ears began to feel fuzzy out of nervousness.

However he looked confused, his head slightly cocked to one side.

 _"What did you say?"_

Turned out those words came out of my lips were so weak that they only sounded like a whisper.

 _"I..."_

Despite not doing anything, I was still out of breath. No right words came out of my throat like how I wanted it to. While he was waiting patiently for me to finish my sentence. Holding my hands up against my chest to hold back the pain. I prayed that none of this was real.

 _"...It's nothing."_

In the end why couldn't I say anything? Was it because I was afraid to hear his answer?

 _"Ah, Sakura."_

As if destined, we bumped into each other on way our home. After exchanging a couple words of greeting you held out a box of sweet to me, asking to join you for a cup of tea at your house. And my heart skipped a beat once realized that it was the same box which Sasuke was carrying with him from earlier.

You didn't mention that it was from him, and you thought that there was no way I would have known since I wasn't around when he gave it to you.

 _Just what was her purpose? Did she go look for me just to boast about the sweet he gifted her? Or was she trying to mock me because I was not the one to receive his gift?_

Jealousy easily won over me and I could no longer hide that ugly expression on my face. As I was about open my mouth and lash every mean word at you, another thought suddenly came into my mind.

What if you didn't realize what you was doing was hurtful?

My eyes widened in shock. If that was true then it would be even more messed up. And I would only end up hating you even more. _  
_

 _"Later."_

I bit my lips hard to hold back the urge to yell at your face and walked off, you looked confused then called out my name. Ignoring everything, I held my breath and dashed away. Till no longer hearing your voice by my ears and collapsed on my knees.

The more seeing him opening up his heart to you, willingly and naturally. The bigger and nastier that thorn grew. To the point that it's too painful for me to subside it.

 _Why does it have to be her? A complete stranger that you've meet no more than three months._

He hates seeing you and Naruto being happy together, how you both fit in like a perfect picture. And the fact that you cared for Naruto more than him.

 _You are be the only one in my heart. My everything._ _What do I have do to make you look at me?_

Saying what you had was a bond called friendship. But it wasn't that simple.

 _What does she have that I don't?_

I tried not to hate you for being ignorant, but it looked like I couldn't last any longer.

 _"Why won't you say anything to me? Why are you always keeping quiet?"_

Was it because he hate me for saying stupid things from the past? Or simply because I was not you?

 _"I love you with all my heart! I would do anything for you. So please, stay with me!"_

I wasn't afraid of getting rejected, as long as he would change his mind and stayed by my side.

 _ _"You really are annoying."__

Still, he ignored my plead and disappeared out of my sight. Gone out of my reach.

 _"Sasuke-kun... Please bring Sasuke-kun back! I beg of you!"  
_

I couldn't care less if he chose you, as long as you used that advantage and brought him back to me. Surely he would agree to go with you, right? If you're being sincere enough. Because finally you showed that you actually cared for him.

 _"If it's you, I'm sure that Sasuke-kun will listen!"_

As long as he returned safely, I would happily to accept whatever you threw at me. Pain, pity, heartbreaking or not I would take it all. So please, Nina-chan...

* * *

"I'm sorry but that's impossible."

It's too risky and will definitely affect this story progress, something that I will never allow to happen.

"Why?! Do you even care about him at all?!"

Not accepting my rejection, she shouts and starts crying even harder. No longer able to hear what I am trying to say over her sobs and unintelligible words. Soon I have no choice but to shout back for her to listen.

"Can't you see, Sakura?! This is too dangerous! I may die if I go!"

Sakura's eyes wide open in shock and goes silent for a second. Figure that I've gained her attention, I speak softly again so that only two of us can hear.

"Even if I die, nothing will change."

Only then Sakura agrees to drop the topic and runs off into the village.

"Sakura-san!"

Lee's left speechless by the turn of event and tries to follow her. But doesn't have enough strength to. As I assure him that I will go check on her and Lee nods, looking somewhat sad.

On the other hand, seems to be satisfied by my practical answer, Shikamaru sighs in relief and continues walking away with the others. While Naruto's also concerned about his friends however, there is no time left for them to waste so he has to move along.

After searching around for a while, I find Sakura standing alone on a small bridge near the entrance. Despite hearing my calls, she keeps staring at the water below. Hasn't stopped crying.

"Are you alright?"

Standing next to her, I ask and Sakura shakes her head yet remains silent. Trying to hold back her tears but fails miserably. She's still trembling, red eyes and messy hair, bruises on her knees and palms. Perhaps due to a fall when running away.

Patting Sakura on her shoulder, I try to cheer her up. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Later The Recovery Team returns. Having Neji suffering from severe injuries, Choji was left near-death from his use of Three Colored Pills. Kiba and Akamaru were also injured, but not life-threatening.

Kakashi's back along with them but doesn't say anything much and soon disappears by himself. Probably off to Obito's grave again to reflect on his past and regrets.

Then Ino comes to inform us in a hurry. And without knowing what has happened, of course Sakura's excited.

"Come on, let's go to the hospital!"

Sakura says to us and dashes toward to the hospital. Once reaching to Naruto's room and about to turn the doorknob. She overhears Naruto's conversation about their result and freezes on her spot, that smile also quickly faded away.

Soon Tsunade leads us inside to greet them, and the moment seeing Sakura. Naruto apologizes to her. Then Sakura promises that they will find Sasuke together before leaving.

Everything happens like how it should be, however, there's something bothering me from the moment walking into the room.

Naruto's been averting my eyes and barely speaks to me.

Thinking that perhaps he's still tired and confused after the big fight with his best friend. I decide to leave him alone for some rest and maybe things will turn back to normal eventually.

Or so I thought...

"Naruto, you have been avoiding me for a while now. What's going on?"

He looks away, again. _What the hell?  
_

This isn't like him at all. Usually Naruto will just blurt everything out after a couple of nagging or so. Yet it's been days already and he hasn't cracked a single word.

"It's nothing."

"You are overthinking it."

These are always his to-go answers whenever I attempt to bring this matter up. And Naruto will try to change as many topic as he can before drifting away.

"Fine, maybe I am."

Tired of having to deal with his excuses one after another. I admit that it's my fault and let thing slide. Even right now, when he's about to leave the village for two years and a half for training, Naruto's still acting stubborn and hiding stuff from me.

"Just promise me that you will stay safe, okay?"

"Alright. Take care."

We say our last goodbye and he turns around, leaving the village with Jiraiya. While I turn back into the village and begin my search for our teacher, Kakashi. Because after today, or tomorrow. He's going to leave the village for his mission for god knows when he will returns.

But why do I have to look for him? Well, for the past few weeks my progress of hitting every library within the village just to translate those Ninpo scrolls is zero. Mostly because it's too tough for a child like me, who doesn't have much experience in everything. Bonus with the fact that I'm not even that smart...

Anyways I am desperate for a guidance and If I don't find him quickly. It's going to be over for me. After a while I notice my target's hanging around near a tree in the park by himself. Enjoying his favorite book peacefully while lying under the shade.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

I take a seat next to him and start talking non-stop. Despite unwillingly to cooperate expression is spreading all over his face, I'm certain that he still listens carefully.

Once I'm done speaking, Kakashi sighs.

"You do realize that I'm very busy, right?"

Hearing so I gulp, trying to reason with him.

"Well... There aren't many high leveled shinobi in Konoha that I'm close to except for my one and only supervisor. So..."

I promise him to not become a bother as I'm capable of self-study. As long as he deciphers those Ninpo scrolls for me. I will try to make it work, somehow.

"You don't have to watch me all the time, just come by to check whenever you're free. I won't run away and cause any trouble anymore. I swear!"

That desperate speech eventually earns me a reluctant nod. _Finally!_

"So, when are we going to start?"

"Now." Kakashi closes his book and stands up, much to my surprise. _Wait, what? Really?_

So now here we are, standing in the middle of a vacant spot near a forest, which is not too far away from Konoha (it takes hours to get here by foot) but nowhere close to civilization. Despite being urged around by Kakashi to pack things up quickly and get moving right away, it's almost sunset when we arrive to our destination.

There's a stream nearby and plenty of food around. So I take that I'm going to stay here for the night, and probably for a good while too.

"Here are the scrolls that I've told you about."

I put my backpack down and take out three scrolls from inside, handing them to him. Not wasting time, Kakashi removes the seals on green scroll and takes a quick scan at what's written in it before turning to me.

"Let's start with physical training first."

Kakashi states. and I'm dumbfounded. "Eh? why?"

"These things takes time. Therefore instead of laying around waiting, you should start finding a way to work around with what's available in you at the moment."

From what I can understand, what's available in me right now that needed some work with would be that risky power that I've been trying to hide.

 _Does that mean he wants me to try improving its usage?_

By doing so also means that Kakashi will have more chances to observe clearly how it functions. Perhaps even understand it better than I do and ends up using that power against me.

Which is definitely not good for my life. But it's not like I have a choice here.

"Right. Let's do this."

I closely follow his instructions and start my training immediately.

The most notable flaw I can think of is that because my body is too weak to restraint it for long. Therefore physical training should be sufficient for the first step, not to mention that it's the easiest training for me since it doesn't require much brain power.

"So..."

After a while he speaks up, yet not finishing his sentence or aiming it toward to anyone. Confused, I repeat after him childishly and he frowns, more like in usual annoyance than angry. Though he doesn't answer right away and actually waits for me to slowly figure it out.

Let's see, what kind of thing do I have that Kakashi desire so much? is it Intel?

 _Of course! Kakashi wouldn't just agree to help me out of the blue like that._ I was so absorbed with getting stronger that completely forgot about this stuff.

"Fair trade. Fine. What do you want to hear?"

I stop whatever I am doing and grab a towel to wipe the sweat off my face, approaching his spot and wait for him to think of right a question to ask.

"The invasion. Gaara's power and Sandaime's sacrifice. You knew it all beforehand, didn't you?"

And I nod, no point in hiding that now. Kakashi frowns again then closes his eye. Seems to be in deep thought before speaking up again. This time his voice sounds a bit broken, as if he doesn't want to believe in what he's about to say himself.

"You... possess knowledge of the future, don't you?"

* * *

"I missed this place, it hasn't changed one bit!"

Standing on top of a pole, Naruto says proudly as he watches the scenery before his eyes. Once hearing Sakura and the Konohamaru's team are calling for him from below, he jumps down to greet them. Though their first impression toward each other after so long aren't going smoothly as they have expected it to be.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Where is Nina-chan?"

After being beaten near-death for his childish prank, Naruto asks of her and Sakura drops him to the ground.

"I... don't know."

Sakura averts her eyes. Acting somewhat awkward. "To be honest I haven't seen or heard of her much ever since she left the village for her training."

"Really?! For training?! With who?"

Naruto gasps out loud once knowing Nina's left Konoha almost right after him, and the one to tutor her for these years is actually their one of a kind teacher, Kakashi.

"Uh huh. I was surprised at first too."

According to Sakura, Nina returned the village from time to time, mostly to restock the items that she needed and left the moment after that. It was definitely not an easy task to track her down since the time she picked to go home was random.

Sakura tried to follow her whenever she could, yet always losing sight of her as soon as she reached to the forest. In the end no one knew exactly where Nina went and what kind of thing she was training for.

"Then how do you know all of this, Sakura-chan?"

"Well you could say that it was luck."

Thanks for that one time she caught Nina walking out of her house in one early morning, when she's on her way home from Tsunade over night training. Then they had a chat at the river bank nearby, mostly because Sakura insisted them to, but she didn't remain long.

"Still, Nina-chan didn't reveal much about what she was doing either. All I knew was that the training was quite tough and she needed more time to prepare than she's suppose to."

And that was the last time she saw Nina, months before of her and Naruto reunion. It's way worse with Kakashi, since he was too busy with both work and training Nina at the same time to be even at home for her to find him.

"Seriously, these two and their ridiculous secrecy."

Though there was one thing for sure that Nina didn't participate in the last Chuunin exam. No one knew whether she didn't want to or simply forgot about it like Naruto did.

"Anyways, Naruto. Let's go to Godaime's office. I'm sure she's waiting for you there."


End file.
